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TRITK STORIES 

FROM THE 


HISTORY OF IRELAND, 

BY 

JOHN JAMES MCGREGOR 


SKCOUD SERIES 


CONTAINING THE MEMORABILIA OP IRELATID tTNDBR THE 
TUD ORS 



MAYNOOTH castle 18 29. 


D UB LTN 

WILLIAM CURRY JUN* i-C° 

1830 . 













4 


‘i 





TRUE STORIES 


FROM THE 

HISTORY OF IRELAND. 


BY 


JOHN JAMES MCGREGOR, 

AUTHOR OF “a HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVO LUTIO N 


(&c. &c. 


SECOND SERIES, 

CONTAINING 

THE MEMORABILIA OF IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS. 


DUBLIN : 

WILLIAM CURRY, JUN. AND CO. 

9, UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET. 


I 821). 











1 




CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER I. 

IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS. 

PAGE 

llisiurical Sketch of the Usurpation of Richard III. 

—Accession of Henry VII.—Aversion of llie Irish 
to his Government—Keating prior of Kilmainham 
— Imposture of Lambert Simnel—He arrives in 
Dublin— The Lord Deputy Kildare proclaims 
him King, by the name of Edward VI. — General 
Defection of the Irish—Loyalty of Waterford— 
Intrigues of the Duchess of Burgundy — Arrival 
of Flemish Troops in Dublin—Coronation of Sim¬ 
nel—The Impostor invades England—Battle of 
Stoke—Capture and Degradation of the mock 
King—Arrival of Sir Richard Edgecombe—Sub¬ 
mission and Pardon of the Earl of Kildare—Feuds 
in Ulster 


1 




CONTEXTS. 


PAGE 

CHAPTER II. 

Preteiisions of Perkin Warbeck to the Crown of 
England- Kildare removed from Office—Walter 
Archbii.liop of Dublin, Lord Deputy—Perkin 
Warbeck at Cork—Maurice (BellicosusJ Earl of 
Desmond—Perkin retires to France—The Sweat¬ 
ing Sickness—The Archbishop of Dublin’s Inter¬ 
view with King Henry—Memorial on the misera¬ 
ble state of Ireland — Sir Edward Poynings, Lord 
Deputy—O’Hcinlon’s Insurrection—Kildare sus¬ 
pected—Poynings’ Parliament—Attainder of Kil¬ 
dare—Return of Perkin Warbeck—Siege of Wa¬ 
terford— Repulse of W^arbeck and the Earl of 
Desmond—Subsequent Adventures and Death of 
Perkin Warbeck— Kildare committed to the Tow¬ 
er—Kildare and the Bishop of Meath before the 
King—Kildare’s singular triumph—Murder of 
Lord Barry. 35 


CHAPTER III. 

Commotions in Ulster—Kildare restored to the of- 
6ce of Lord Deputy—His vigour and success— 
Interview between Kildare and Sir James Ormond 
at St. Patrick’s Cathedral—Battle of Knocktuadh 

— Nugent, Lord Delvin—Defeat of the Bourkes 

— Capture of Galway—Extraordinary Instance of 

Civic Justice exemplified in the Story of Lynch, 
Mayor of Galway— Death and Character of Henry 
YU. 


57 




CONTENTS. 


■ JP \ o 

CHAPTER IV. 

Accession of Henry VIII.—Death of the Elarl of Kil¬ 
dare— Vigorous conduct of Gerald, bis son and 
successor in the Government—New Feuds between 
the Geraldines and Butlers—Margaret, the great 
Countess of Ormond— Kildare accused—His in¬ 
terview with Cardinal Wolsey—Anecdote of Kil¬ 
dare—The Earl of Surrey Lord Deputy—Insur¬ 
rection of Con O’Neill—Submission of O’Neill 
and O’Donnel—O’More’s Insurrection—Surrey’s 
Popularity and Recal—The Irish in France—Ex¬ 
ploit of Nicholas Walsh—Pierce (Rufus) Earl of 
Ormond, Lord Deputy—Murder of Talbot of Bel- 
gard—Dissensions between Ormond and Kildare 

— Kildare Lord Deputy — Treasonable practices 
of Desmond —Kildare suspected and summoned 
to London—Pierce Earl of Ossory restored to 
power —Murder of the Bishop of Leighlin—Ma¬ 
chinations of the Emperor Charles V. — Sir Wil¬ 
liam Skeffington Lord Deputy—Kildare restored 

— His ambitious and violent conduct—Secret 
proceedings of the Council—Kildare summoned 
to London—The Government is committed to 
Lord Thomas Fitzgerald—Rumours of Kildare’s 
Execution—Insurrection of Lord Thomas Fitz¬ 
gerald—Action at Salcock Wood—Murder of 
Archbishop Allan — Correspondence between 
Fitzgerald and Lord James Butler—Siege of the 
Castle of Dublin—Repulse of Fitzgerald—Arrival 
of Sir William Skefllngton—Siege of Maynoolh 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


—Final suppression of the Insurrection—Death 
of the Earl of Kildare—Lord Leonard Grey Lord 
Deputy—Execution of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald 
and his five Uncles—Escape and Adventures of 
young Gerald Fitzgerald. 7 ^ 

CHAPTER V. 

Alterations in Religion—Obstacles to the Establish- 
ment’of the King’s Supremacy in Ireland—Arch¬ 
bishop Browne—Opposition of Primate Cromer 
to the new changes—The Parliament declares the 
King Supreme Head of the Cliurch—Suppression 
of Monasteries—Alarming Discontents excited by 
the Court of Rome—Arrest and Suicide of Thad- 
deus Byrne—Insurrection of O’Neill and the 
Northern Chieftains—Battle of Bellahoe—Fleming 
Lord Slane—Recal and Execution of Lord 
Leonard Grey—Tragical Death of James Earl of 
Ormond—Activity of Sir William Brereton—Sir 
Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy—Henry VIII. 
proclaimed King of Ireland—Distinguished re¬ 
ception of the Irish Chieftains at Greenwich— 

New Civil and Ecclesiastical Regulations—Com¬ 
mercial Disputes between Limerick and Galway 
*—Piracies of Sir Fineen O’Driscol—Destruction 
of Dunalong Castle by the Waterfordians —Ex¬ 
traordinary Escape of Lieutenant Grant—Intro¬ 
duction of Stage Plays into Ireland. 119 

CHAPTER VI. 

Accession of Edward VI.— Insurrection of O’More 




CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


and O’Connor—Sir Edward Bellingham, Lord 
Deputy—The Earl of Desmond reclaimed—Sir 
Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy—Efforts to 
establish the Reformation—Proclamation enjoin¬ 
ing the new Liturgy—Opposition of Primate 
Dow'dall — The Bible printed—Sir James Crofts, 
Lord Deputy—Conference of the Clergy at St, 
Mary’s Abbey—Flight of Dowdall—Bale, Bishop 
of Ossory—Commotions in the Provinces—De¬ 
feat of Sir James Crofts —Death of Edward VI.— 
Accession of Queen Mary—Gerald Earl of Kildare 
— Fitzmaurice Lord Kerry—Sir Anthony St. 
Leger, Lord Deputy—Ejection of the Protestant 
Clergy—Proceedings and sufferings of Bishop 
Bale—A Jubilee—The Earl of Sussex, Lord 
Deputy—The Roman Catholic Worship restored 
— New Counties—Commotions in the Provinces 
—The Scotch expelled from Carrickfergus— 
Murder of Lord Dungannon—Hostilities between 
O’Neill and O’Donnel—Surprise and Defeat of 
John O’Neill—Death of O’Cahan—Feuds among 
the O’Briens of Thomond—Story of Dean Cole.. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Accession of Elizabeth—John O’Neill assumes the 
Sovereignty of Ulster—His Interview with Sir 
Henry Sidney—Restoration of the Reformed 
AVorship—Primate Loftus — Creagh, the titular 
Primate—Discontents—Insurrection in Ulster— 
.John O’Neill in London—O’Neill restored to 
favour—The Geraldines and Butlers—Battle of 


145 


CONTENTS. 


PAG 


— Recal and Death of Sir John Perrot—Sir 
William Fitzwilliani, Lord Deputy—The Spanish 
Armada—Wrecks on the Irish coast—Kind recep¬ 
tion of the Spaniards by the Natives—O’Ruarc 
and Don Antonio de Leva—Avarice and cruelty 
of the Viceroy—Tyrone’s Dissimulation—Unjust 
Execution of Hugh Mac Mahon—Escape and 
perilous Adventures of Red Hugh O’Donnel— 
Tyrone’s outrages—Sir William Russel, Lord 
Deputy — Maguire of Fermanagh—Action at 
Sciath-na-Fearth—Death of Archbishop Magaw- 
ran— Exploits of O’Donnel—Siege of Enniskillen 

— Action at the Ford of Biscuits—Devastation of 
Connaught—Tyrone commences Hostilities— 
Sieges of Portmor and the Castle of Monaghan «- 
Sir John Norris — Battle at the Pass of Cluain- 
Tibhin—Terrible Conflict between Tyrone and 
Sedgrave—Conference and Armistice with Tyrone 
and O’Dounel—Renewal of Hostilities—Action at 
Killoter—Capture of Armagh by a singular 
stratagem—Temporary submission of the Ulster 
Chieftains —Sir Conyers Clifford, President of 
Connaught—Death of Sir John Norris—Thomas 
Lord Borough, Lord Deputy—Fresh Hostilities 
—Defeat of Sir Conyers Clifford at Tyrrel’s-Pass 
—Exploits of O’Donnel in Connaught—The Vice¬ 
roy defeats Tyrone near Armagh—Death of Lord 
Borough and the young Earl of Kildare—Tj rone’s 
Conference with the Earl of Ormond—Sir Henry 
Bagnal marches to the relief of Portmor—Sur¬ 
prise of Tyrone’s camp- Battle of the Yellow 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Ford—Death of Field Marshal Bagnal, and deci¬ 
sive Defeat of the Royal Army. 

CHAPTER XTI. 

Effects of Tyrone’s Victory—Insurrection in Lein¬ 
ster and Munster—The Sugan Earl of Desmond— 
Robert Earl of Essex, Lord Lieutenant—Action 
at the Pass of Plumes—Defeat of the Royal Forces 
by O’Byrne of Wicklow—Vigorous Hostililies of 
Red Hugh O’Donnel—Battle at the Curlew 
Mountains—Death of Sir Conyers Clifford—Con¬ 
ference between Essex and Tyrone—Discontent of 
the Queen and the English Council—Fall of Essex 

— Tyrone’s Manifesto—His visit to Munster— 
Death of Sir Thomas Norris and Sir Warham St. 
Leger—Charles Lord Mounfjoy, Lord Lieutenant 
—Sir George Carew, President of Munster—Vigor 
of the new Viceroy—Tyrone escapes into Ulster 

— Capture ofthe Earl of Ormond by Rory O’More 

— Sir Henry Dockwra captures Derry—Action 
at the Moyry pass—Insurrection in Leinster— 
Death of O’More—Affairs of Munster—Florence 
Mac Arthy—Action near Ktnsale—The Presi¬ 
dent’s March to Limerick—Surrender of the 
Castle of Lough-Gur — Attempt of Dermod 
O’Connor to seize the titular Earl—Siege ofGlin- 
Castle—Exploits of Maurice Stack—Capture of the 
Castle of Lixnaw —Murder of Maurice Stack—The 
Titular Earl a fugitive—Lord James Fitzgerald 
restored to tlie Earldom of Desmond—His recep¬ 
tion at Kilmallock—Death of Dermod O’Connor 


282 



CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


—Sir Charles Wilmot—Siege of Listovvel—Singu¬ 
lar preservation of Lord Kerry’s son—Submission 
of the Munster Rebels—Seizure of the titular Earl 384 

CHAPTER XIII. 

V'igorous proceedings of Lord Mounijoy in Ulster — 
Action at Benburb— Landing of Spanish Troops 
at Kinsale, under Don Juan de Aquila—Advance 
of the Viceroy against the Invaders—Siege of 
Kinsale—March of Tyrone and O’Donnel to the 
South—Perilous state of the English army—Bat¬ 
tle of Kinsale and Flight of the Irish Chieftains— 
Death of Red Hugh O’Donnel—Surrender of 
Kinsale—Obstinate Defence of the Castle of Dun- 
boy—Death of M‘Egan the Apostolic Vicar— 
Perilous Flight of O’Sullivan, O’Connor Kerry, 

&c .—Defeat and Death of Captain Malby—Sin¬ 
gular preservation of O’Sullivan’s Family—Story 
of Teigh Keugh Mac Mahon and Henry O’Brien 
of Trummera — The Viceroy’s Proceedings in 
Ulster—Final overthrow and Submission of Ty¬ 
rone— Death of Queen Elizabeth.. 


376 



TRUE STORIES, &c. 


CHAPTER I. 


IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS. 

Historical Sketch of the Usurpation of Richard 
III,—Accession of Henry VIL—Aversion 
of the Irish to his Government—Keating, 
Prior of Kilmainham—Imposture of Lambert 
Simnel—He arrives in Dublin—The Lord 
Deputp Kildare proclaims him King^ by the 
name of Edward VI.—General Defection of 
the Irish—Loyalty of Waterford—Intrigues 
of the Duchess of Burgundy—Arrival of 
Flemish Troops in Dublin—Coronation of 
Simnel—The Impostor invades England — 
Battle of Stoke—Capture and Degradation 
of the mock King—Arrival of Sir Richard 
Edgecombe—Submission and Pardon of the 
Earl of Kildare—Feuds in Ulster. 

I HAVE endeavoured, in the First Series of 

these Stories, to give you a brief view of the 


VOL. II. 


A 





2 


HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 


early history of Ireland, as far as the dim light 
of our ancient records would permit; and to 
narrate the commencement, and trace the growth 
of that singular connexion, which, for nearly 
seven centuries, has placed two neighbouring 
nations, differing wddely in character, language, 
manners, and, for half that period, in religion, 
under the acknowledged dominion of the same 
sovereign. If you have perused the subject 
with attention, you must now be acquainted 
with those circumstances, some apparently for¬ 
tuitous, and others arising from the political 
state of tile island, which introduced the first 
English colony, and enabled them to maintain 
their ground in this island, in despite of the 
fierce but ill-conducted incursions of the na¬ 
tives, and the still more dangerous feuds of their 
own ambitious chieftains. The cruel and de¬ 
sultory warfare carried on in Ireland to the 
close of the reign of Edward IV. is, in a great 
measure, to be attributed to the lust of foreign 
conquest, by whicli nearly all the English mo- 
narchs had been actuated, previous to that pe¬ 
riod, and which necessarily weakened their 


Richard’s usurpation. 


3 


efforts for the complete subjugation of the coun¬ 
try. It was reserved for the House of Tudor 
to wrest their nominal sceptres from its ancient 
princes, and reduce the whole kingdom to an 
acknowledgment of English supremacy. 

The crimes by which Richard III., the last 
monarch of the House of Plantagenet, mounted 
to power, can find few parallels in the annals of 
nations, fraught as they are with details of per¬ 
fidy and blood. They belong more properly to 
English history, yet a brief preliminary notice 
of them appears necessary to the elucidation of 
some remarkable events in the reign of Henry 
VII. with which Ireland was intimately con¬ 
nected. 

The gay, luxurious, and it must be added, 
cruel Edward IV. expired on the 9th of April, 
1483, in the 42d year of his age. In his last 
moments, he committed the regency of his king¬ 
dom, and consequently the fate of his numerous 
family, to a brother, who had signalized his 
attachment by the murder of the young Prince 
of Wales, son of Henry VI. after the battle of 
Tewkesbury, and afterwards by the part which 

A 2 


I 


4 


HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 


he took in the leoralized murder of the unfortu- 

O 

nate George, duke of Clarence. But never 
was the retributive justice of providence more 
strikingly manifested, than in the frustration of 
Edward’s designs. The same hand which, 
reckless of every tender or conscientious feel¬ 
ing, had assisted in the elevation of the House 
of York to the throne, cut off its last hopes by 
the foul murder of Edward’s sons, and Richard 
stood forth to the world, a dreadful example 
of the triumph of a selfish ambition over every 
principle of moral rectitude, and the most sa¬ 
cred ties of consanguinity. 

The queen and her daughters (five prin¬ 
cesses,) with the earl of Warwick, the only 
son of the unfortunate Clarence, had been pre¬ 
viously imprisoned, and all the nobles opposed 
to their flagitious proceedings having been cut 
off under various pretexts, Richard was per¬ 
mitted to assume the regal dignity, merely 
because the nation appeared struck with a uni¬ 
versal panic at the atrocious boldness of his 
proceedings. But his triumph proved short; 
for the Yorkists and Lancastrians, being now 


Richard’s usurpation. 


5 


equally objects of the usurper’s hatred, united 
their efforts to effect his overthrow. 

The eyes of both parties were speedily fixed 
on Henry earl of Richmond, who, since the 
last defeat of the Lancastrians, had lived in a 
kind of honourable exile at the court of the 
duke of Britanny. He was now the represen¬ 
tative of the House of Lancaster, being great 
grandson of John of Gaunt by his mother Mar¬ 
garet, only daughter of John duke of Somerset. 
This lady had first espoused Edmund earl of 
Richmond, son of Sir Owen Tudor, (who 
claimed a lineal descent from the famous Ar¬ 
thur king of Britain,) and Catherine of France, 
relict of Henry V.; he was consequently half- 
brother to king Henry VI. The countess of 
Richmond married secondly Sir Henry Stafford, 
uncle of the duke of Buckingham, and after 
his death, she espoused lord Stanley, who, 
though at first he strenuously opposed the usur¬ 
per’s views, now found it necessary to tempo¬ 
rize ; and he appeared so zealous for his interests 
that he was appointed steward of the house- 


6 


HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 


holdj and entrusted with the execution of many 
of his most important commands. 

X 

The duke of Buckingham, who had been the 
chief agent in Richard’s usurpation, soon per¬ 
ceiving that he had himself become an object 
of the tyrant’s jealousy, readily assented 
to a proposal of Morton, bishop of Ely, for 
overturning the present government, and unit¬ 
ing the opposing factions which had so long 
distracted the country, by placing the crown 
on the head of the young earl of Richmond, on 
condition of his espousing the princess Elizabeth, 
eldest daughter of Edward IV. now become, 
by the death of her brothers, the rightful heir 
to the throne of England. This project was 
communicated to the queen dowager and the 
countess of Richmond, by whom it was cheer¬ 
fully embraced ; and the former having found 
means to raise a sum of money, sent it to the 
earl, advising him to levy as many foreign troops 
as possible, and requiring an oath that he would 
celebrate the marriage on his arrival in England. 
But these efforts to overthrow his authority did 


richard'’s usurpation. 


not escape the active vigilance of the usurper, 
who immediately summoned Buckingham to 
court. That nobleman replied by a premature 
appeal to arms, which terminated in his capture 
and execution; and the earl of Richmond, who 
appeared on the English coast a few days after, 
with five thousand men, was compelled by this 
first failure of his friends, to return to Britannv. 

Elevated by this success, the tyrant ventured 
to assemble a parliament, by whom his title was 
obsequiously recognized, and he caused many 
popular acts to be passed, with the view of 
reconciling the nation to his government. Uis 
wife and only son dying about this time, (the 
former not without suspicion of poison) he con¬ 
templated a plan for frustrating the marriage of 
the earl of Richmond with the princess Eliza¬ 
beth, by espousing her himself, and applied to 
the court of Rome to grant a dispensation for 
this incestuous union. With what abhor¬ 
rence will you also hear, on the authority of 
history, that the queen dowager of England, 
to recover her lost authority, concurred in this 
unlawful project with the murderer of her three 


8 


JIISTOUICAL SKETCH OF 


sons and her brother, and exhorted all her ad¬ 
herents to withdraw their support from, the earl 
of Richmond. 

Such a horrible career of crime had, in the 
meantime, excited an almost universal anxiety 
that the sceptre should be wrested from his 
sanguinary grasp; and the partisans of Henry, 
who had now taken refuge from the machina¬ 
tions of his deadly foe, at the court of France, 
daily encouraged him to undertake a new inva¬ 
sion, before the projected marriage of Richard 
with the princess Elizabeth, might frustrate all 
his hopes. The king of France, from political 
motives, secretly assisted his designs, and on 
the 7th of August, 1485, Henry sailed from 
Harfleur with about two thousand men, and six 
days after, he landed without opposition, at 
Milford Haven in Wales. He soon advanced 
towards Shrewsbury, and he was quickly joined 
by so many persons of distinction and their fol¬ 
lowers, as raised the most sanguine hopes of 
success. 

Richard, ignorant of the quarter at which 
the invaders might land, had taken post at 


Richard’s usurpation. 


y 


Nottingham, in the centre of the kingdom. 
His force comprised about twelve thousand 
men ; and he held the young lord Strange in 
his hands as a pledge for the fidelity of his fa¬ 
ther, lord Stanley, who had gone into Cheshire 
and Lancashire to assemble his friends and re¬ 
tainers. Though Henry’s force did not amount 
to more than half of that of the usurper, the 
two competitors for so rich a prize as the crown 
of England, approached each other in hostile 
array, on the 22d of August, at Bosworth near 
the city of Leicester ; while the politic Stanley, 
apprehensive of the fate of his son, took a posi¬ 
tion with seven thousand men midway between 
both, armies, from which he could join either 
party as necessity might require. The am¬ 
biguity of his conduct deterred the tyrant from 
taking vengeance on his hostage, and he rushed 
to the fight at the head of his main body, with 
a heroism worthy of a,better cause, performing 
prodigies of valour till he fell with four thou¬ 
sand of his followers. 

The earl of Richmond was hailed king on 
the field of battle by the title of Henry VII. 

A 3 


10 


henry VI t. 


Sir William Stanley placing on his head an orna¬ 
mental crown which he had just taken from that 
of the fallen monarch. But his victory and the 
acclamations of the soldiery would have proved 
insufficient to maintain his defective title, had 
not the new king soon displayed abilities to 
defend the authority which he had assumed. 
The nation, wearied with the long contest 
between the houses of York and Lancaster, 
which had swept away the prime of its popu¬ 
lation, longed for repose—the parliament es¬ 
poused his cause with ardour—his title was 
confirmed by the pope, and his union with the 
princess Elizabeth, the undoubted heiress of 
the house of York, [daced it, apparently, 
beyond dispute. 

The evil effects of Richard’s enormities had 
not extended to Ireland ; the attachment of its 
population to the house of York consequently 
remained undiminished, and the intelligence of 
a revolution which again placed a prince of the 
hostile family on the throne, was received with 
feelings of popular discontent. Jasper earl of 
Pembroke, the king’s uncle, was created, soon 


Keating, prior or kilmainiiam. ] I 

after Henry's coronation, duke of Bedford, and 
appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland, and to the 
astonishment of all parties, Gerald earl of Kil¬ 
dare, was continued in his post of lord deputy; 
his brother Thomas, in that of lord chancellor; 
and all the other state officers, generally de¬ 
voted Yorkists, were permitted to retain their 
places. It is probable that Henry was suffi¬ 
ciently aware of the unpopularity of his family 
in this country to attempt any change in its 
government, till his throne was better esta¬ 
blished, and especially as the earl of Ormond, 
one of his most powerful adherents, had lost 
much of his influence in Ireland, by a long re¬ 
sidence at the English court. 

It soon, however, appeared, that this forced 
moderation of king Henry, vested his secret 
enemies in Ireland with a power which me¬ 
naced the security of his government. A spirit 
of insubordination was first manifested by Keat¬ 
ing, prior of Kilmainham, then a celebrated 
house of the knights of Rhodes, who, relying 
on the support of his friend the lord deputy, 
alienated the revenues of the house, and even 


THE king’s marriage. 


li 

sold its reliques and ornaments. For these 
mal-practices the prior was deprived by the 
grand master of Rhodes, and Lomley, a distin¬ 
guished Englishman, appointed to succeed him. 
But the latter had no sooner landed to take 
possession of his new dignity, than he was as¬ 
sailed by Keating, at the head of a band of 
armed men, and compelled to resign the instru¬ 
ments of his election. Lomley complained both 
to the king and the master of Rhodes ; but 
though Keating was excommunicated, such was 
the extraordinary power and influence of this 
imperious ecclesiastic, that he cast his compe¬ 
titor into prison, where he remained without 
redress till he died; and the prior, notwith¬ 
standing his aggravated offences, kept possession 
of his office in despite of the king’s authority. 

Henry’s marriage with the heiress of the 
House of York, was calculated to conciliate the 
affections of his Irish subjects; but the cold¬ 
ness with which he treated his bride, his 
cruel and unnecessary imprisonment of the 
young earl of Warwick, the son of their fa¬ 
vorite Clarence, and the numerous attainders 


LAMBERT SIMNEL. 


13 


and forfeitures with which the friends of the 
House of York were visited in England, re¬ 
kindled in their minds the flames of discontent, 
and the majority of the nation ardently panted 
for some new revolution, to subvert a govern¬ 
ment which they detested. Circumstances 
soon occurred, which for a season, elevated 
their hopes.* In 1486, lord Lovel and Sir 
Hum])hry Stafford levied a body of forces in 
the north of England ; but this attempt at in¬ 
surrection terminated in the execution of Staf¬ 
ford, and the flight of Lovel to the court of 
Margaret, duchess of Burgundy, sister of Ed¬ 
ward IV. where for some time he found ample 
employment in assisting to mature a conspiracy 
against Henry’s government, as singular for its 
contrivance, its temporary success, and termina¬ 
tion, as any to be found in the fables of romance. 

The design of raising up a pretender to the 
crown of England is said to have originated 
with one Richard Simon, a priest, at Oxford ; 
but it is generally believed that he did not at¬ 
tempt the accomplishment of his plan without 
the knowledge and sanction of the queen dow- 


14 


LAMBERT SIMNEL. 


ager, who now finding that her services in con¬ 
tributing to Henry’s elevation, were only re¬ 
warded by neglect and cruelty to herself and 
her family, had conceived the most violent ani¬ 
mosity against him. It is therefore considered 
probable that she would, under these feelings, 
lend her sanction to any feasible attempt to 
subvert his government, knowing that, this 
once accomplished, the impostor could be easily 
set aside. There lived at that time in Oxford, 
a youth named Lambert Simnel, the son of a 
baker, who possessed an understanding above 
his years, (which were only fifteen,) manners 
greatly superior to his rank in life, and the air 
and deportment of a person of illustrious birth. 
This youth was fixed on by Simon as the chief 
actor in his scheme of imposture. He enter¬ 
tained him at his house, flattered his inexpe¬ 
rience, taught him those lessons which were 
necessary for the exalted character which 
he was about to assume; and a report having 
been at this time industriously spread, that 
Richard, the younger son of Edward IV. had 
secretly escaped from the cruelty of his uncle. 


LAMBERT 8IMNEL. 


15 


it was at first intended that Simnel should per¬ 
sonate that prince. A difficulty, however, 
presented itself to this scheme, as the young 
duke of York, if alive, would now be only 
twelve years old. ' A fresh report was therefore 
circulated, that the earl of Warwick had just 
escaped from the Tower, and it was finally de¬ 
cided that Simnel should personate that un¬ 
happy prince. 

Except that his age agreed more nearly with 
that of Warwick, this new plan was attended 
with still greater difficulties than the former; 
as the duke of York, being a child in the 
nursery at the time of his father’s death, was 
known to few, while the son of Clarence had 
appeared at Edward’s court, and had been on 
the most intimate terms with many of the no¬ 
bility. But to obviate the consequences of too 
close an inspection, it was resolved to commence 
the project at a distance from the court, and 
amongst a people whose prepossessions in favour 
of the house of York would not allow them to 
be over scrupulous in their examination of the 
pretender’s claims. To qualify him for the 


16 


GERALD EARL OF KILDARE. 


execution of his part of this singular drama, 
Simnel was made acquainted with all the adven¬ 
tures of the earl of Warwick, and accurately 
instructed to converse with ease on various 
persons and incidents, information which he 
must have derived from those of higher rank 
than his ecclesiastical preceptor. 

The jealous and vigilant monarch was soon 
apprised that some plan for disturbing the tran¬ 
quillity of his government was in agitation, and 
his first suspicions were directed against the 
earl of Kildare, as a person from whom the 
greatest danger was to be apprehended, Henry 
was fully aware of the aversion of the Irish to 
his government, and he issued a summons to the 
earl to repair to his court, under pretence of con¬ 
sulting him respecting the affairs of that coun¬ 
try. But Kildare, apprehensive that his cor¬ 
respondence with the malcontents of England 
had been discovered, and possessing too much 
prudence to place his life or liberty in the hands 
of a severe and vindictive prince, prevailed 
on some of the chief lords and prelates to 
sign a memorial to his majesty, stating that 


17 


SIMNEl’s arrival in DUBLIN. 

the deputy’s departure might prove highly pre¬ 
judicial to some affairs of the greatest import¬ 
ance which were then in progress through 
parliament, and praying that his majesty would 
recal-, or at least suspend his mandate until these 
weighty matters were decided. Thus power¬ 
fully supported, Kildare ventured to postpone 
his voyage to England ; and the critical situa¬ 
tion of affairs compelled Henry to acquiesce 
in his reasons. 

The arrival of Simnel with his preceptor in 
Dublin, soon put an end to all doubt on the 
subject. This event was speedily notified to 
the lord deputy, who granted the impostor and 
his wily instructor a private audience, at which 
Simnel, in all the dignity of an injured prince, 
proclaimed himself to be the son of the unfor¬ 
tunate Clarence, traced his pedigree with the 
strictest accuracy, related in the most pathetic 
language the particulars of his imprisonment, 
his escape, and the hardships which he had 
since endured; inveighed with well-affected 
passion against the usurpation of the earl of 
Richmond, and finally demanded the protection 


18 S1MNEL’3 interview with KILDARE. 

of the lord deputy for tlie rightful heir to the 
crown of England. Kildare listened to his 
tale with profound attention, commiserated all 
his wrongs, and sending for his brother the 
cliancellor, and lord Portlester the treasurer, i 
introduced Simnel to them as the last hope of 
the house of York, to which they were both 
ardently devoted. They received the adven¬ 
turer with the warmest expressions of zealous 
attachment; but before they proceeded further 
in the business, they resolved to try the temper 
of the people by circulating far and near, that 
the earl of Warwick, the son of their much¬ 
loved countryman, Clarence, had arrived in 
Dublin. This intelligence produced the most 
extraordinary effects, not only in the capital, 
but throughout the country. The citizens, as 
with one voice, declared in favour of the pre¬ 
tender, and forgetful that the female issue of 
Edward IV. had prior claims, indulged the vain 
hope of giving as a king to England the son of 
a man who had drawn his first breath amongst 
them. 

The whole nation now declared for the pre- 


SIMNEL PROCLAIMED KING. 


19 


tender, with the exception of the citizens of 
AV aterford, Octavian de Palatio the primate, 
who was an Italian; the prelates of Cashel, 
Tuam, Clogher, and Ossory ; the Butler and 
Bermingham families, and the baron of Ilowth. 
Encouraged by such powerful support, Kildare 
assembled the council, who giving their cordial 
assent to SimnePs claim, the mock monarch was 
conveyed in triumph to the castle of Dublin, 
and proclaimed king by the name of Edward 
Vl. The example of the metropolis was fol¬ 
lowed by all the principal cities of Ireland, 
except Waterford, against which the vengeance 
of the lord deputy was speedily denounced. 
Kildare despatched a messenger to that city, 
peremptorily commanding John Butler, the 
mayor, to proclaim the new king, and to receive 
and assist him with all his forces. Butler sent 
a written reply by a courier of his own, in 
which he informed the earl, that the citizens of 
Waterford considered him and all who had as¬ 
sisted him in proclaiming the impostor Simnel, 
as rebels to the rightful king of England. En¬ 
raged at the boldness of this reply, Kildare 


20 


LOYALTY OF WATERFORD. 


ordered the messenger to be hanged, and sent 
a herald to Waterford, clad in his coat of arms, 
to deliver another message to the citizens, who 
commanded them and their mayor to proclaim 
the new king, and accept him as their rightful 
prince, under pain of hanging at their own 
doors. Butler valorously replied that he would 
not give the deputy the trouble to come and 
hang him at his door, but, God willing, he 
would march out with his citizens, aided by 
the inhabitants of Clonmel, Fethard, and Callan, 
to encounter the false king and his adherents 
thirty miles from Waterford; and, he doubted 
not, would give them an overthrow, to their 
dishonour and infamy. The lord deputy not 
having it in his power immediately to avenge 
this insult, contented himself with uttering 
some additional threats, and declaring the pos¬ 
sessions and franchises of the refractory city 
forfeited. 

When king Henry received intelligence of 
these proceedings from his friends in Ireland, 
he adopted the most vigorous means to coun¬ 
teract the plans of his enemies. The queen 


THE EARL OF WARWICK. 


21 


dowager, whom he strongly suspected as a prin¬ 
cipal agent in the conspiracy, was seized and 
committed to a nunnery ; and to prevent the 
infatuation of his Irish subjects from becoming 
contagious in England, he took the real earl 
of Warwick from the Tower, and had him con¬ 
veyed in procession through the streets of the 
metropolis to St. Paul’s church, where he was 
exhibited to an immense concourse of spectators. 
But however this might have satisfied the peo¬ 
ple of London with regard to Simnel’s impos¬ 
ture, it produced no change in the opinions or 
conduct of the Yorkists in Ireland, who boldly 
retorted the charge of imposture on the usurper, 
as they called him; alleging that he had im¬ 
posed on public credulity by exhibiting a mock 
prince, tricked out in the form of the real 
Plantagenet; and they endeavoured by numer¬ 
ous emissaries to circulate these opinions amongst 
the people of England. They at the same 
time sent trusty messengers to Margaret duchess 
dowager of Burgundy, the sister of Edward 
IV. a princess who was rich and powerful, 
possessed of a bold and masculine spirit, and 


$2 


SWAART AND THE FLEMINGS. 


at this time filled with indignation againsi 
Henry, on account of his unremitting severities 
against the partisans of her family. They in¬ 
formed her of all the late transactions in Ire¬ 
land, and implored her aid as the sovereign 
patroness of an enterprize in behalf of her 
persecuted nephew, to which, they said, Pro¬ 
vidence had already granted the most miraculous 
success. The court of Burgundy was at this 
period the residence of several of the English 
malcontents, amongst whom was John de la 
Pole, earl of Lincoln, a nephew of Edward IV. 
whom the usurper Richard had destined to be 
his successor, if he should die without issue. 
He therefore fully entered into the views of his 
aunt with regard to the Irish adventure, know¬ 
ing that if by means of Simnel, he could de¬ 
throne king Henry, the instrument could be 
easily disposed of. It was now resolved that the 
most prompt measures should be adopted to 
aid the cause of the impostor, and early in 
1487, two thousand veteran troops were des¬ 
patched to Ireland, under the command of 
Swaart, an experienced leader, who was ac- 


CORONATION OF SIMNEL. 23 ’ 

companied by the earl of Lincoln, lord Lovel, 
and some other English Yorkists. 

Encouraged by the arrival of these succours 
in Dublin, the Yorkists exulted as if the tri¬ 
umph of their cause were already completed ; 
and Kildare, with his council, resolved to 
crown the puppet-king with all the magnifi¬ 
cence that circumstances would permit. Sim- 
nel, clad in royal robes, was conducted in great 
pomp to the cathedral of Christ church, attend¬ 
ed by the lord-deputy, his state officers, and 
all the English and Irish nobles then in the me¬ 
tropolis. Pain, the bishop of Meath, enforced 
his right to the throne in an elaborate discourse 
from the pulpit; and Fitz-simons, the arch¬ 
bishop of Dublin, completed the ceremony by 
placing on his head a rich diadem, which had 
long adorned an image of theVirgin in St. Marj’s 
abbey. The church was now filled with the ac¬ 
clamations of the delighted spectators, and the 
spectacle was concluded, according to the an¬ 
cient Irish custom, by the newly-crowned king 
being carried on the shoulders of Darcy of Flat¬ 
ten, the chief of a powerful English family in 


24 


6IMNEL.’S GOVERNMENT. 


Meath, to the castle of Dublin—where he in¬ 
stantly commenced the exercise of royal au¬ 
thority. Various acts of council were passed in 
his name, and a parliament was summoned, by 
which laws were enacted, subsidies granted, 
and forfeitures and attainders denounced against 
the city of Waterford, the family of Butler, and 
others, who were declared to be rebellious and 
refractory subjects. 

The administration of the Irish government 
was thus, for a few weeks, carried on in the 
name of Edward VI. probably with the view 
of provoking Henry to head an expedition into 
this country. But that prince was too saga¬ 
cious rashly to abandon the seat of his govern¬ 
ment to the machinations of his English ene¬ 
mies, and he contented himself with guarding 
the coasts both of Ireland and Flanders, to pre¬ 
vent fresh supplies from being conveyed to the 
malcontents, and procuring the spiritual thun¬ 
ders of the see of Rome against all the opposers 
of his royal rights. 

While the Anglo-Irish were thus actively 
engaged in supporting what they pretended to 


INVASION OF ENGLAND. 


25 


be the interests of the house of York, the 
native chieftains, regardless of the power of 
either party, pursued their predatory career 
on the borders of the Pale, and the partizans 
of the new king soon perceived that it would 
be impossible to realize their dream of royalty 
in a country where the resources were inade-r 
quate to support the ordinary establishment of 
the state, much lees a numerous army. It there¬ 
fore becanie obviously necessary to change the 
scene of operations, and all parties agreed that 
the contest for the crown must be decided on 
English ground. The veteran Flemings under 
Svvaart were fully prepared for action, and their 
ranks were soon swelled by thousands of gal¬ 
lant Irish, led on by the lords Thomas and 
Maurice Fitzgerald, brothers of the lord deputy. 
The earl of Lincoln assumed the command of 
this expedition, which embarked with the most 
sanguine hopes of success. Arrived atFoudrey 
in Lancashire, they exultingly exhibited their 
young king, whose rights to the throne they 
called on all the Yorkists of England to vin¬ 
dicate. 


B 


26 


INVASION OF ENGLAND. 


Henry was not unprepared for this event. 
He took all the necessary precautions in 
those counties which he most suspected, for 
repelling the invasion; and having made a ju¬ 
dicious disposition of his forces, he with great 
appearance of devotion visited the shrine of 
our Lady of Walsingham, and from thence 
continued his progress to the menaced districts 
in the north of England. The earl of Lincoln 
having been joined at his landing by Sir Tho¬ 
mas Broughton with some forces, imprudently 
directed his march towards York, where Henry 
had so lately triumphed over lord Lovel. His 
army every where maintained the strictest 
order, as if to show the anxiety of the young 
king for the peace and welfare of his subjects; 
but the people view’ed its progress with silent 
astonishment, and Lincoln soon perceived that a 
decisive victory could alone ensure the success 
of the enterprise. He accordingly advanced 
to surprise the town of Newark, but king 
Henry interposing his army betw’een the rebels 
and the town, a battle became inevitable. 

On the 20th of June, 1487, the two armies 


BATTLE OE STOKE. 


27 


met at the village of Stoke, in the county of 
Nottingham, and an engagement ensued of the 
most sanguinary description. The king’s forces 
were superior both in number and quality; yet 
the furious valour of the Irish, aided by the 
experience of Swaart and his veteran Germans, 
kept the victory doubtful for a considerable 
time. But in the end the light armour of the 
Irish proved unavailing against the elforts of 
the royal array, and the number of their Ger¬ 
man auxiliaries was insufficient to resist their 
overwhelming charge; yet though broken they 
disdained to fly, and fell in heaps under the 
stroke of the victors. The earl of Lincoln, 
lords Thomas and Maurice Fitzgerald, with 
Plunket and many other Irishmen of distinc¬ 
tion, the brave Swaart and Sir Thomas Brough¬ 
ton all fell on the field of battle, with four 
thousand of their unhappy followers. Lord 
Lovel having been never afterwards heard of, 
is supposed to have shared a similar fate. Sim- 
nel, with Simon his tutor, fell into the hands 
of king Henry, who, with an affected magnani¬ 
mity, abstained from taking sanguinary venge- 


28 DEGRADATION OP SIMNEL. 

ance on such ignoble captives. - He ordered 
Simon to be immured in a dungeon for life, 
and assigned to Simnel a menial office in his 
own kitchen, from which he was afterwards 
promoted to the rank of falconer to his majestj 
—a post superior, perhaps, to what he would 
have attained, had he never engaged in this 
singular enterprise. 

This treasonable attempt having been thus 
speedily suppressed, it might reasonably be 
expected that a prince of Henry’s vindictive 
temper would at once hurl his vengeance against 
its Irish abettors. But his policy always kept 
his views of strict justice within due bounds; 
and he contented himself for the present with 
issuing a letter to the citizens of Waterford, 
in which he applauded their loyal opposition to 
Kildare and the citizens of Dublin, and pro¬ 
curing a papal bull against those prelates and 
other delinquent clergy who had embraced the 
cause of himnel. The mayor and citizens of 
Waterford were at the same time armed with 
full power to seize all rebels by sea or land. 
From these proceedings Kildare and his parti- 


SIR RICHARD EDGECOMBE. 


29 


sans perceived that a storm of vengeance was 
collecting against them, which they allayed by 
a timely submission, endeavouring to palliate 
their fault, imploring his majesty’s pardon, and 
promising to atone for their error by their future 
good conduct. The still distracted state of 
England induced Henry to receive this submis¬ 
sion, and Kildare was continued in his govern¬ 
ment, with the hint that the royal grace must 
depend upon his future dutiful and loyal con¬ 
duct. 

Henry, still suspicious of the fidelity of his 
Irish subjects, sent, in the summer of 1488, 
Sir Richard Edgecombe to Ireland, with a body 
of five hundred men, to compel the great lords 
to renew their oaths of allegiance, and offer the 
king’s pardon to all who would give assurance 
of their future loyalty. Sir Richard arrived at 
Kinsale on the 27th of June, and in the church 
received the homage of the lords Barry and 
Courcey, and the townsmen swore allegiance to 
king Henry VII. From thence he proceeded 
in a coasting voyage to Waterford, where he 
was honorably received and lodged in the house 

B 2 


so 


SUBMISSION OF KILDARE. 


of Butler the mayor, who had in the preceding 
year so vigorously withstood the threats of the 
earl of Kildare, and who now accompanied Sir 
Richard Edgecombe through the city, and en¬ 
treated that if the earl were again restored to 
his power and dignity, Waterford might be 
exempt from his jurisdiction, and hold imme¬ 
diately of,the king and his heirs. Sir Richard 
after expressing his royal master’s high com¬ 
mendation of the truth and loyalty of the 
citizens of Waterford, offered his services with 
the king in their behalf ; and having partaken 
of an entertainment with the mayor, he returned 
to his ships, and arrived in the harbour of Dub¬ 
lin on the 3d of July. 

The bishop of Meath, with the clergy and 
magistrates of the capital received the king’s 
commissioner with the most respectful submis¬ 
sion ; but the haughty Kildare, having by this 
time recovered from his first panic, absented 
himself under the pretence of being engaged 
on a pilgrimage, and seven days elapsed before 
he consented to an interview with Edgecombe. 
The lord deputy was received with a severity 


SUBMISSION OF KILDARE. 


SI 


w hiclihe returned with cold civility j and after 
considerable discussionj he was allowed to 
dictate the terms on which he would accept 
his pardon. Homage and fealty were then 
performed by the earl of Kildare, the lords 
Portlester, Gormanston, Slane, Trimblestone, 
and Dunsany, with the prelates of Dublin, 
Meath, and Kildare, and some abbots and 
priors ; and they were immediately absolved 
from the pope’s sentence of excommunication: 
but ^so apprehensive was the English commis¬ 
sioner of prevarication on the part of the Anglo- 
Irish lords, that the host on which they were 
sworn was, by stipulation, consecrated by a 
chaplain of his own. What a picture of the 
state of society at that period, does this cir¬ 
cumstance afford us ! 

After this conference, which was held in St. 
Mary’s church at Dame-gate, Sir Richard Edge¬ 
combe presented Kildare with his patent of 
pardon, accompanied by a chain of gold from 
the king, as a token of grace and reconciliation. 
The offending prelates and clergy, with the 
citizens of Dublin, Drogheda, and Trim, were, 


32 KILDARE AT THE PALACE OF GREENWICH. 


at the same time, received into the royal favour. 
Of all the Irish malcontents, Keating, the 
turbulent prior of Kilmainham, was alone ex¬ 
cluded from pardon; and being ejected from 
his office, he ended his days in poverty and 
contempt. 

As during the late revolt, the outrages of the 
native Irish had greatly increased, Henry found 
it necessary to continue the earl of Kildare in 
the government, as the only person in the island 
who possessed sufficient vigour and influence 
to repel their incursions. This excited the 
jealousy of those who had evinced their loyalty 
to the reigning sovereign during the general 
defection, and Octavian the primate, earnestly 
sought the office of chancellor as a counterba¬ 
lance to the enormous power of the deputy. 
Kildare, to overthrow his project, sent Pain, 
the bishop of Meath, to the king, and Henry, 
uuable to decide between the conflicting parties, 
summoned the earl and the other principal Irish 
lords to his presence. They soon after at¬ 
tended him at Greenwich, where Henry invited 
them to a banquet, at which Lambert Simnel. 


o’neill and o’donnel. 


33 


to whom they had so lately bowed the knee as 
their sovereign, officiated in the capacity of 
butler; but the king followed up this rebuke of 
their folly by a confirmation of their pardon. 
Kildare and his friends were continued in their 
offices, and obtained the most gracious assurances 
of his majesty’s favor and confidence. 

The lord deputy conducted his government 
for many years with such vigour and success, 
as to obtain the title in future ages of the great 
earl. The favour shown to him by his sovereign, 
silenced, for some time, the clamours of his 
rivals, while he crushed every attempt of the 
Irish chieftains to disturb the English settle¬ 
ments, either by the sword, or the influence 
which he had acquired over the minds of the 
natives.* But he failed in his efforts to extin¬ 
guish a bloody feud which broke out in Ulster, 
in the year 1491, between his kinsman. Con 
O’Neill, and Hugh O’Donnel, the powerful 

♦ The first muskets seen in Ireland were sent as a 
present from Germany to this lord deputy in 1489, and 
were from this time borne by his guard before his resi¬ 
dence in Thomas-court. 


31 


o’neill and o’donnel. 


chieftain of Tjrconnell, now called Donegal. 
The quarrel originated in O’Donnel’s refusing 
to pay tribute or head-rent to O’Neill, as his 
liege lord. The demand was reiterated by the 
- latter in the following laconic style, ‘ Paij me 

my rent^ or if you dont -and a reply was 

returned by O’Donnel of equal strength and 

brevity, ^ / owe you no rent, and if I did - 

This being sufficient to rouse these fiery spirits, 
a sanguinary conflict ensued, which continued 
with various success, till O’Neill was murdered 
by his own brother in January, 1492. 




PERKIN WARBECK. 


35 


CHAPTER II. 


Pretensions of Perkin JVarbeck to the Crown 
of Kngland—Kildare removed from Office — 
Walter Archbishop of Dublin^ Lord Deputy 
—Perkin Warbeck at Cork—Maurice ( Bel- 
licosus) Earl of Desmond—Perkin retires 
to France—The Sweating Sickness—The 
Archbishop of Dublin's Interview with King 
Henry—Memorial on the miserable State of 
Ireland—Sir Edreard Poynings appointed 
Lord Deputy — O'Hanlon’s Insurrection — 
Kildare suspected — Poynings' Parliament — 
Attainder of Kildare—Peturn of Perkin 
Warbeck—Siege of Waterford—Repulse of 
Warbeck and the Earl of Desmond — Sub¬ 
sequent adventures and death of Perkin 
Warbeck—Kildare committed to the Tower 
—Kildare and the Bishop of Meath before 
the Kmg — Kildare's Singular Triumph — 
Murder of Lord Barry, 

The restlpss duchess of Burgundy raised up. 



36 


REMOVAL OF KILDARE. 

about this time, another pretender to the throne 
of England, in the person of Perkin Warbeck. 
This youth is said to have been born in London, 
of Jewish parents, who afterwards settled at 
Tournay in Flanders; and possessing, like Sim- 
nel, the qualifications for the part which he was 
destined to act, he was instructed in all things 
necessary to sustain the character of Richard 
duke of York, the youngest son of Edward IV. 
who it was still pretended had escaped from 
the Tower. Ireland being also selected for 
the first appearance of this new adventurer, 
emissaries were sent there to prepare the minds 
of the Yorkists for his reception, while War- 
beck retired to Portugal till a favourable oppor¬ 
tunity presented itself for the commencement 
of his enterprise. 

The vigilant Henry having received intima¬ 
tion of these proceedings from his friends in 
Ireland, became apprehensive of the fidelity of 
the principal abettors of Simnel, whom his 
policy had led him to continue in power. He 
resolved, therefore, at every risk, to remove 
Kildare and Portlester from the administration ; 


RESTORATION OF THE BUTLERS. 37 

and in the month of October, 1492, Walter 
Fitz-simmons, archbishop of Dublin, was ap¬ 
pointed lord deputy ; Plunket, the chief jus¬ 
tice, was nominated lord chancellor; and the 
office of treasurer was conferred on Sir James 
Ormond. Kildare was terribly provoked by 
his sudden removal from office, and particularly 
as it led to the restoration to power of his an¬ 
cient rivals the Butlers. The chief of their 
house was at present in high favour with the 
king, who had lately sent him on an important 
embassy to the court of France ; and the arri¬ 
val of Sir James, who might be considered his 
representative, caused the long-smothered ani¬ 
mosities of the rival families to burst into aflame. 
The Geraldines and Butlers once more flew to 
arms, and their respective territories became 
for some time a scene of murder and devas¬ 
tation. 

The new deputy, in the mean time, assem¬ 
bled a parliament, in which the conduct of 
Kildare and Portlester was condemned with 
the greatest severity, and all the late measures 
against the Butlers and the citizens of Water- 


VOL. II. 


c 


38 


PERKIN WARBECK AT CORK. 


ford were revoked. In the midst of these pro¬ 
ceedings, Perkin Warbeck landed at Cork, 
without troops or retinue, and declared himself 
to be Richard Plantagenet, who had escaped 
from the Tower. He was received by John 
Walters, the mayor, and the principal citizens, 
with all the honours due to a sovereign prince, 
and immediately despatched letters to the earls 
of Kildare and Desmond, notifying his arrival, 
and acknowledging the loyal attachment and 
zealous services of these noblemen to the house 
of York. It does not appear in what manner 
Kildare received these overtures; but Desmond 
instantly declared in his favour. The southern 
branch of the Geraldines had, after the deca¬ 
pitation of Earl Thomas, in 1467, continued 
for many years in a state of comparative tran¬ 
quillity. His son James, who does not appear 
to have inherited the ambition of his house, 
was murdered in 1487 by his own servants, at 
Court-Mattress, in the county of Limerick. 
He was succeeded by his brother Maurice, who, 
though so lame as to be always carried in a 
horse-litter, displayed such a warlike propen- 


MAURICE EARL OF DESMOND. 


39 


sity that he acquired the surname of Bellicosus, 
After avenging the death of his brother, he 
turned his arms against O’Carrol and M^Arthy, 
the chieftains of Ely and Cork; and elated by 
his victories over them, he now cheerfully em¬ 
barked in an enterprize which he hoped would 
lead to the dethronement of the sovereign of 
England. 

But as Perkin was not yet prepared to com¬ 
mence his operations, his visit appears to 
have been intended only to revive the dormant 
zeal of the Yorkists, and keep their hopes alive 
till his plans were brought to maturity. After 
a short residence in Cork, he repaired to France, 
where Charles VIII. gave him royal entertain¬ 
ment, and he was speedily joined by above one 
hundred English gentlemen. During the three 
following years he resided at the court of the 
duchess of Burgundy, who openly acknow¬ 
ledged him as her nephew. The transient ap¬ 
pearance of the adventurer in Ireland had pro¬ 
duced the intended effect. The court of Eng¬ 
land was filled with endless accusations from a 
wl-etched country, where the spirit of faction 

c 2 


40 


ARCHBISHOP WALTER. 


was again let loose, and where tlie unhappy 
population were suffering under all the horrors 
of famine, and of a terrible disease, called the 
sweating sickness, by which multitudes perish¬ 
ed in every part of the kingdom. Its symptoms 
were, acute pain in the head, a burning heat 
in the stomach, intense thirst, and a profuse 
perspiration of fetid matter. It seized chiefly 
on young and middle-aged men, who, if they 
did not resist the first impulse to sleep, inevit¬ 
ably died. 

The distracted and miserable state of the 
country at length excited the attention of the 
English monarch, who commanded archbishop 
Walter, the deputy, to repair to London, and 
lay before him a full detail of all the circum¬ 
stances of the Irish government. On his arri¬ 
val at court, the piety and gravity of the pre¬ 
late of Dublin caused him to be received with 
particular attention. When Henry inquired of 
him, why his Irish subjects were so prone to 
faction and rebellion ? the archbishop replied, 
with the simplicity of an ecclesiastic, that it was 
to be attributed chiefly to the idle manner in 


STATE OF IRELAND. 


41 


which the younger sons of rich families spent 
their time—who, instead of qualifying them¬ 
selves for trade or a liberal profession, lived in 
a state of dependence on the head of the family, 
and so became useless to the commonwealth ; 
while the common people lived in sloth and in¬ 
dolence, on account of the great plenty of pro¬ 
vision that the land naturally produced. This 
was certainly one cause of the disorders in Ire¬ 
land : but a memorial was about this time pre¬ 
sented to king Henry, which took a more ex¬ 
tended view of the subject—the author’s object 
appearing to be, to engage the king in a com¬ 
plete reduction and settlement of the country. 
He enumerates no less than sixty regions still 
governed by Irish chieftains after their ancient 
laws and manners, and a long catalogue of de¬ 
generate English, who refused all obedience to 
government. The English pale comprised only 
half the counties of Uriel (Louth,) Meath, Kil¬ 
dare, Dublin, and Wexford ; and even in these 
the common people entirely conformed to the 
Irish habit, manners, and language. The coun¬ 
try was universally harassed by oppressive ex- 


42 


STATE OF IRELAND. 


actions, unnatural feuds, and expeditions un¬ 
dertaken by deputies from personal animosity, 
without any benefit to the state—the necessary 
consequence w'as, that the laws were neglected 
or defied, while an universal ignorance prevail¬ 
ed, from the scandalous neglect of instructing 
and reforming the people. To remedy these 
evils, the king was exhorted to appoint a chief 
governor of ability and integrity, supported by 
a military force sufficient to restrain the Irish 
enemy, and put an end to local feuds, and thus 
gradually reduce the whole body of the inhabi¬ 
tants to obedience ; and to substitute a system 
of equitable and moderate taxation for those ar¬ 
bitrary impositions by which the people in ma¬ 
ny districts had been almost impoverished. 

This memorial is supposed to have had con¬ 
siderable influence on the king’s subsequent 
designs with regard to Ireland, as he resolved 
immediately to adopt many of the measures 
which it suggested. In the mean time, Kil¬ 
dare had repaired to the English court to de¬ 
fend himself against the accusations which he 
suspected archbishop AV^alter had laid against 


SIR EDWARD POYNINGSj LORD-DEPUTY. 43 

him; but that prelate and the partizans of Or¬ 
mond had now so completely prepossessed the 
mind of the king against the late lord deputy, 
that he refused to hear his defence, referring it 
to the decision of Sir Edward Poynings, an 
English knight, in whom he placed peculiar 
confidence, and whom he was now about to 
entrust with the Irish government, armed with 
sufficient powers to punish the delinquent and 
reward the meritorious. In September, 1494, 
the new viceroy arrived in Ireland, with a force 
of about a thousand troops, and nearly all the 
state-officers and judges were replaced by Eng¬ 
lishmen. 

Poynings soon commenced energetic mea¬ 
sures to break the power of the great lords who 
had hitherto encouraged factions amongst their 
followers, and, when in power, modelled the 
parliament according to their will. Previous to 
attempting any extension of theEnglish authority 
amongst the old natives, he determined on re¬ 
forming the Pale, and putting an end to those 
oppressions by which the king’s subjects were 
so dreadfully harassed. But, before he could 


44 


o’hanlon’s insurrection* 


take any etfcctive step towards the accomplish¬ 
ment of these desirable objects, the long-conti¬ 
nued and dangerous insurrection of O’Hanlon, 
an Irish chieftain of Ulster, compelled him to 
march into that province at the head of a con¬ 
siderable military force. He was accompanied 
in this expedition by sir James Ormond and the 
earl of Kildare, who appeared anxious thus to 
efface the former suspicions of his loyalty. No 
glory attended an enterprise against an enemy 
who, instead of marching to meet their adver¬ 
saries in all the pomp of chivalry, darted unex¬ 
pectedly upon them from inaccessible woods 
and morasses, and became invisible at the ap¬ 
proach of the royal army. Poynings could, 
therefore, find no opportunity to strike a deci¬ 
sive blow, and the enemies of Kildare seized 
this as a favourable moment for exciting his sus¬ 
picions of the fidelity of that nobleman, whom 
they accused of holding a correspondence with 
the enemy, and actually conspiring with him to 
murder the king’s deputy. These suggestions 
were in a great measure confirmed by the arri¬ 
val of intelligence, that lord James Fitzgerald, 


A PARLIAMENT. 


45 


the brother of Kildare, had taken possession 
of the castle of Carlow, in defiance of the royal 
authority. This afforded Poynings a pretext 
for withdrawing from the North ; and marching 
to Carlow, he laid siege to the castle which sur¬ 
rendered after a week’s resistance. The ill 
success of his first military expedition was 
wholly attributed by the deputy to the traitor¬ 
ous practices of the Kildare family. 

In the first week of December, 1494, Sir 
Edward Poynings assembled, at Drogheda, that 
famous parliament, whose regulations first gave 
to the Anglo-Irish any thing like a regular 
government; and which during nearly three 
subsequent centuries were referred to as 
forming a component part of the political con¬ 
stitution of Ireland. It is necessary that you 
should be made acquainted with the nature 
of those enactments, as they exhibit in a 
striking point of view the previous miserable 
state of the country. The practice of coyne 
and livery^ by which the people hitherto were 
compelled to pay and maintain the soldiers of 
their lord, was completely abolished, and in its 


46 


A PARLIAMENT. 


place a moderate tax was substituted. To 
circumscribe further the power of those chief¬ 
tains, it was ordained that no citizen, or free¬ 
man of any city sViould receive pay or wages as 
the retainer of any great lord, who were for¬ 
bidden to retain any followers but their house¬ 
hold officers and servants, except those who 
were necessary to defend the marches or borders. 
These lords were prohibited from becoming 
freemen or magistrates of any corporate towns, 
and from making war or peace without the con¬ 
sent of the deputy-i—they were also forbidden 
the use of fire arms without special license ; the 
lower orders were strictly enjoined the regular 
use of archery; and the military cries and 
words of distinction among the several factions 
were declared to be seditious and illegal. The 
crime of murder which had hitherto, accordins: 
to the Irish custom, been punished by a fine, 
was now declared to be high treason; and all 
the statutes passed at Kilkenny in the reign of 
Edward III. were confirmed, except that which 
prohibited the use of the Irish language and 
some others of minor importance. Various 


POYNINGS’ LAAV, 


47 


'alterations were, at the same time made, in the 
mode of appointing state officers, and in conse¬ 
quence of many alleged abuses of authority, the 
judges were no longer to hold their places by 
patent for life, but during the king’s pleasure. 
But the most memorable act of this parliament 
was that which has ever since been emphati¬ 
cally denominated ^ Poynings’ Law,’ by which 
the right of the king’s deputies to call a parlia¬ 
ment at their pleasure was taken away, and it 
was ordained that no parliament shall for the 
future be called in Ireland, until the chief 
governor shall have first certified to the king, as 
well of the causes and considerations of the 
acts which they design to pass, as of the acts 
themselves; and till the same shall be approved 
of by the king and council, and a license there¬ 
from issued to summon a parliament.” This 
act continued to regulate the parliamentary 
proceedings in Ireland till its legislative inde¬ 
pendence was asserted in 1782. 

The enemies of Kildare being triumphant in 
this assembly, that great nobleman with all his 
kinsmen and adherents were declared attainted 

c 2 


48 


IILTL'IIN 01' rERKlN WAUUECK. 


of high treason; and though his past conduct 
gave just ground of suspicion, the irritation of 
his kindred at the disgrace of their chief, soon 
hurried them into excesses Avhich were readily 
imputed to his influence. In 1495, Perkin 
Warbeck with six hundred men had made an 
attempt on the coast of England, which was 
defeated, with the loss of one hundred and 
sixty of his followers. From thence he repaired 
once more to Cork, where he Avas cordially 
received by his old friends, and speedily joined 
by the earl of Desmond and lord Barry, at the 
head of a Avell appointed force of two thousand 
four hundred men. The first object of the con¬ 
federates Avas to take vengeance on the refrac¬ 
tory city of Waterford, whither they marched 
to invest it by land, while a fleet of eleven 
ships w'ere directed to proceed to the little 
port of Passage to attack it from the river. 
The citizens, apprized of their approach, 
resolved to maintain the loyal character which 
they had gained; and besides various other means 
of defence they raised a mound of earth to stop 
the course of the river, Avhich filled the ponds 


SIEGE OF WATERFORD. 4y 

of Kilbarry, an extensive marsh that protected 
the city on the south. 

A party having landed from the ships near 
Lombard’s Marsh, were speedily repulsed by 
the garrison with considerable loss ; and dur¬ 
ing the eleven days of the siege, several 
successful sorties were made, in which many of 
the enemy fell j and to such a pitch of cruel en¬ 
thusiasm did the citizens carry their loyalty, 
that every unfortunate prisoner who fell into 
their hands, had his head chopped off in the 
market-place, and fastened on a stake in sight 
of the enemy. A cannon placed on Reginald’s 
Tower having by a lucky shot struck one of, 
the ships, by which all the crew perished, 
Perkin and his friends became at length con¬ 
vinced of the futility of their enterprize, and 
abandoning the siege, retreated to Cork, while 
the victorious Waterfordians, commanded by 
Butler, their mayor, pursued the rebel fleet 
with four gallant ships to the mouth of that 
harbour. The adventurer, however, reached 
Kinsale in safety, from whence he sailed for 
Cornwall, and soon after took refuge in Scot- 


50 PERKIN WARBECK’s DEFEAT 

land, where the king acknowledged his title to 
the crown of England, entered into an alliance 
with him, and gave him the lady Catherine Gor¬ 
don, his relative, in marriage. These circumstan- 
ces,with many others connected with the singular 
story of Perkin Warheck have excited strong 
doubts, whether this aspirer to the throne of 
England was an impostor; but of this as well 
as of many other secrets in our history man¬ 
kind will probably remain ignorant to the end 
of time. The king of Scotland not only ac¬ 
knowledged his rights, but put himself at the 
head of an army to support them, with which 
he made a fruitless expedition into Northum¬ 
berland in 1497. An insurrection in Cornwall 
in the following year, encouraged Warbeck to 
make a fresh effort, and having effected a land¬ 
ing at Whitsand-bay, he soon found himself at 
the head of several thousand men ; but failing 
in an attempt on the city of Exeter, his army 
dispersed, and the unhappy youth with a few 
of his followers took refuge in the abbey of 
Beaulieu. He was induced soon after to sur¬ 
render on a promise that his life should be 


AND EXECUTION. 


51 


spared. Having, liowever, in the following 
year, formed a plan of escape, in which the 
unfortunate earl of Warwick was implicated, 
king Henry seized the opportunity of ridding 
himself of these dangerous rivals, and they 
were publicly executed, together with Walters, 
the mayor of Cork, who had been Warbeck’s 
first abettor in Ireland. 

In the mean time the earl of Kildare, on whom 
strong suspicion rested of having favored the 
late conspiracy, was sent to London as a pri¬ 
soner, while Poynings, to whose dispositions 
its defeat was attributed, returned to England 
in a kind of triumph, and was rewarded with 
the order of the Garter. The services of the 
citizens of Waterford were warmly acknow¬ 
ledged by the king in a letter to the mayor, 
and permission was granted them to use as the 
motto of the city arms —Urbs intacta manet 
Waterfordia. 

The enemies of the Geraldines being now 
completely triumphant, Kildare was kept a 
close prisoner for more than a year, during 
which his countess, a daughter of lord Portlester, 


52 


KILDARE IN THE TOWER. 


died of grief. But king Henry, in the interval, 
perceived that the earl was a man of an open 
temper and of unrefined and simple manners, 
rather than a cunning intriguer or dark conspi¬ 
rator ; and that the crimes charged against him 
were only such as were likely to take place in 
a country so torn by turbulence and faction as 
Ireland had lately been : he, therefore, resolv¬ 
ed to confront his captive with his adversaries, 
and thus give him a fair opportunity of defend¬ 
ing himself. When the day of trial came, 
Creagh archbishop of Cashel, and Pain the 
bishop of Meath, stood forth as his principal 
accusers. The earl, at first appeared unable to 
answer to a charge brought against him by the 
bishop of Meath, that after Plunkett and his 
followers had been slain by him in an ac¬ 
tion near Trim, he followed the bishop into a 
church with a drawn sword, and dragged him 
from his sanctuary. The king perceiving his 
noble prisoner perplexed, gave him his choice 
of any counsel in England, and time to prepare 
his defence: Grant me that,” said the earl, 
and I will answer to-morrow ; but I doubt ] 


KILDARE AND THE BISHOP OF MEATH. 63 

shall not b© allowed that good fellow I would 
choose.’’ The king gave him his hand in as¬ 
surance that he should, and his majesty asking 
him when he would choose his counsellor, 
“ Never,” cried the bishop, “ if it be left to 
his choice.” “ Thou liest, Bralagh bald bi- 
shop,” retorted Kildare angrily, as soon as 
thou wouldst choose to break thy vow of chas¬ 
tity, and that would be within an hour.” The 
king and his lords were convulsed with laugh¬ 
ter, at this uncourtly charge against the eccle¬ 
siastic, and Henry asked Kildare, if he said 
true ?” “ By your hand,’’ replied the earl, 

laying hold of the king’s hand, “ there is not 
in London a better mutton-master (glutton) or 
a more incontinent person, than yonder shorn 
priest is. I know him well enough, and have 
three tales to tell your majesty of him, that I 
dare swear will make every body present laugh. 
I will now tell you a tale of this vicious pre¬ 
late.” Of the story we have no particulars, but 
during its narration the king and his courtiers 
were ready to burst with laughter, while the 
earl never changed countenance, but related it 


54 KILDARE AND THE BISHOP OF MEATH. 

with as much unconcern, as if he were in the 
midst of his companions in his own country. 
When he had concluded, the king anxious to 
divert the discourse from the unfortunate bi¬ 
shop thus made an object of ridicule,' cautioned 
the earl to be well advised whom he would 
choose for his counsellor, for that whoever he 
should be, w ould have enough to do to defend 
him. Marry,’’ said Kildare, I can see no 
better man in England than your majesty, and 
will choose no other.” By St. Brigid,” said 
the king, it was well chosen ; for I thought 
your tale would not excuse your doings.” “ Do 
you think I am a fool,” answered the earl, 
no, I am indeed a man both in the field and 
the town.” Henry laughed, and said, that 
a wiser man might have chosen worse.” A 
new accusation was now brought forward, that 
in one of his lawless excursions he had burned 
the cathedral of Cashel to the ground. Spare 
your evidence,” said Kildare, ‘‘ I did set fire 
to the church, for I thought the archbishop 
had been in it.” This singular simplicity in 
pleading a circumstance of aggravation as an 


Kildare’s triumph. 


55 


apology for his offencoj threw an air of ridicule 
on his prosecutors which proved highly favor¬ 
able to the cause of the accused, and when they 
concluded their charges by exclaiming passion¬ 
ately, All Ireland cannot govern this earl !” 

Well,’* replied the king, this earl shall 
govern all Ireland.” 

The conduct of a prince of Henry’s jealous 
and vindictive temper, in thus favouring Kil¬ 
dare may appear extraordinary; hut it proves 
that he believed the late deputy had been im¬ 
posed upon in the affair of Lambert Simnel; 
and that in the present state of Ireland, he 
conceived a nobleman of his vigorous, yet art¬ 
less character, was the fittest person to be en¬ 
trusted with the government of the country. 
He now gave him his fullest confidence, created 
him a Knight of the Garter, and restored him 
to all his estates and honors; and at his request 
granted patents of pardon to Desmond and all 
his adherents, with the exception of lord Barry, 
who was soon after basely murdered in his place 
of concealment by his unnatural brother David, 


56 


MURDER OF LORD BARRY. 


the archdeacon of Cork. But the base act was 
speedily avenged by another branch of the family, 
and the body of the fratricide was burned by 
command of the earl of Pesmond. 


COMMOTIONS IN THE PROVINCES. 


57 


CHAPTER III. 


Commotions in Ulster—Kildare restored to 
the office of Lord Deputy—His vigour and 
success—Interview between Kildare and Sir 
James Ormond at St. Patrick's Cathedral — 
Hattie of Knocktuadh—Nugent Lord DeL 
vin—Defeat of the Bourkes—Capture of Gal¬ 
way—Extraordinary instance of Civic Jus¬ 
tice exemplified in the Story of Lynch^ 
Mayor of Galway—Death and Character of 
Henry FIL 

During the transactions recorded in the last 
chapter, Ireland continued a prey to civil war¬ 
fare. Since the departure of Sir Edward 
Poynings, the government had been committed 
to the bishop of Bangor, and Nugent lord 
Delvin, who with difficulty repressed the in¬ 
cursions of O’Brien, lord of Thomond, into the 
English settlements in the South, while in the 



58 


KILDAllE LOUD DEPUTY. 


Northern province, the close connexion which 
the Irish chieftains maintained with Scotland, 
rendered them a constant cause of alarm to the 
country. The sons of Con O’Neill had taken 
ample vengeance on his murderer Henry ; 
and Neill Mac Art O’Neill, a partisan of the 
latter, retaliated by ravaging Armagh, Tyrone, 
and some other districts. King Henry finding 
his authority insufficient to quell these insur¬ 
gents, called the papal thunders to his aid ; 
but these proving equally inefficacious, he re¬ 
solved once more to entrust the reins of the 
Irish government to the vigorous arm of Kil¬ 
dare, who had now become sincerely attached 
to the English interests by the recent instance 
of his sovereign’s kind protection against his 
inveterate enemies, and this the lord deputy so 
fully evinced in all his after conduct, that his 
name became terrible to the insurgents. He 
marched rapidly into Ulster, where being join¬ 
ed by O’Donnel, Maguire, and Turlogh 
O’Neill, he seized the forts of Dungannon and 
Omagh, and in a few days reduced Mac Art 
to obedience. He now turned his attention to 


THE GERALDINES AND BUTLERS. 


59 


the South, where he acted with similar vigour, 
and placed garrisons in Cork and Kinsale to 
crush the remnant of disaffection which still 
existed amongst the inhabitants. He also ap¬ 
peared anxious to strengthen his authority and 
the interests of the crown, by effecting a recon¬ 
ciliation with his former rivals; and for this 
purpose Sir James Ormond, now the Irish lea¬ 
der of the Butler family, proposed an interview 
with the lord deputy in Dublin, to vindicate 
himself from some insinuations of disaffection 
to the present government. 

This proposal being agreed to by Kildare, 
St. Patrick’s cathedral was appointed as the 
place of conference, whither Sir James Ormond 
repaired, attended by a formidable train of 
armed followers. The citizens with an equal 
force guarded the lord deputy; but while the 
chiefs were engaged in adjusting their dis¬ 
putes a quarrel occurred among their attend¬ 
ants, and the Dublinians let fly a volley of ar¬ 
rows against their opponents, some of which 
stuck in the images in the rood-loft without 
doing further mischief; a profanation, in atone- 


60 


THE GERALDINES AND BUTLERS. 


ment for which, the mayor of Dublin was or¬ 
dered by the Pope to walk barefoot through 
the city in open procession before the sacra¬ 
ment on Corpus Christi-day annnally, a cus¬ 
tom which was observed until the time of the 
Reformation. The principal parties, notwith¬ 
standing this accident, separated with formal 
declarations of respect and friendship, but with 
increased animosity on both sides. 

Kildare now took a more effectual method of 
weakening the power of the Butlers, by giving 
his daughter Margaret in marriage to Pierce, 
the presumptive heir to the earldom of Ormond, 
and the rival of Sir James in his pretensions to 
the chieftainship. The power of the latter was 
for some time so greats that Pierce and his 
family were reduced to the greatest penury and 
distress, till stimulated by his wife, a lady of 
high spirit, he issued forth from his retreat, 
encountered and slew his rival, and thus 
regained the authority and possessions to which 
he was entitled. The marriage of another 
daughter of Kildare with William Bourke of 
Clanrickard, led to results still more serious. 


HOSTILITIES IN CONNAUGHT. 


61 


Bourke ill-treated his wife, which produced 
such a violent effect on the irritable temper of 
the earl, that he remonstrated with his son-in- 
law in terms of great severity, and mutual 
defiances ensued which ended in a war between 
the great chieftains of Connaught and the lord 
deputy. 

Clanrickard was joined upon this occasion 
by O’Brien of Thomond and others of the 
Munster princes ; while Kildare, supported by 
the lords of the Pale, O’Neill, O’Donnel, and 
manyoftheothernorthern dynasts, took the field 
in all the state of a chief governor, as if he were 
about to engage for the honor of his sovereign, 
rather than to avenge a private quarrel. Clan¬ 
rickard and his confederates obtained posses¬ 
sion of Galway, with the most numerous army 
that had ever assembled since the arrival of the 
English; but, nothing daunted at their superior 
force, the lord deputy entered Connaught, and 
on the 19th of August, 1504, both armies met 
at the hill of Knocktuadh, about seven miles 
north-west of Galway. 

\ 

When the lords of the Pale viewed the 

j) 


62 


BATTLE OF KNOCKTUADH. 


strength of their enemies, and recollected that 
they were engaged in a private quarrel, they 
appeared when called to a council of war ge¬ 
nerally inclined to a retreat: but Nugent lord 
Delvin, exclaimed, My learning is not such 
that with a glorious tale I can utter my sto¬ 
mach ; but I promise to God and the princes, I 
shall be the first that shall throw the first spear 
among the Irish in this battle. Let him speak 
now that will, for I have done !” He fulfilled 
his promise, for a little before the battle joined, 
he spurred his horse, threw a small spear among 
the enemy which killed one of the Bourkes, 
and then returned to the troop which he com¬ 
manded. Encouraged by this boldness, the 
chiefs resolved to keep their ground, and the 
first tumultuous onset was received with such 
steadiness by the archers of the Pale, and re¬ 
pelled with such execution, that the insurgents 
fled on all sides, and were pursued nearly to 
the gates of Galway with prodigious slaughter; 
while on the part of the victors scarcely any 
loss was‘sustained, except that of a few priso¬ 
ners that were abandoned by Gerald, the son 


THE MAYOR OF GALWAY. 


63 


of the lord deputy, who rashly quitted his 
station in the rear to take part in the engage¬ 
ment. Kildare was about to enter the town 
immediately after the victory, but O’Donnel 
wisely restrained him, saying “ Many of our 
people are overpowered and slain, and others 
of them separated from us; I therefore think it 
better to remain this night on the field as a sign 
of our victory, and to form our camp—our scat¬ 
tered troops will then return to us upon seeing 
our standards and colours.” The deputy fol¬ 
lowed this counsel; the next morning he en¬ 
tered Galway in triumph, took Clanrickard and 
his sons prisoners, and the archbishop of Dub¬ 
lin was sent to notify to the king the total 
overthrow of all his Irish enemies. 

A few years before the battle of Knock- 
tuadh an extraordinary instance of civic justice 
occurred in this town, which in the eyes of 
its citizens, elevated their chief magistrate to a 
rank with the inflexible Roman. James Lynch 
Fitz-Stephen, an opulent merchant, was mayor 
of Galway in 1493. He had made several 
voyages to Spain, as a considerable intercourse 


64 


TJIE MAYOR OF GALWAY. 


was then kept up between that country and the 
western coast of Ireland. When returning 
from his last visit he brought with him the son 
of a respectable merchant named Gomez, whose 
hospitality he had largely experienced, and 
who was now received by his family with all 
that warmth of affection which from the earliest 
period has characterised the natives of Ireland. 
Young Gomez soon became the intimate asso¬ 
ciate of Walter Lynch, the only son of the 
mayor, a youth in his twenty-first year, and 
who possessed qualities of mind and body 
which rendered him an object of general ad¬ 
miration ; but to tlrese was unhappily united a 
disposition to libertinism, which was a source 
of the greatest affliction to his father. The 
worthy magistrate, however, was now led to 
entertain hopes of a favorable change in his 
son’s character, as he was engaged in paying 
honorable addresses to a beautiful young lady 
of good family and fortune. Preparatory to 
the nuptials, the mayor gave a splendid enter¬ 
tainment, at which young Lynch fancied that 
his intended bride viewed his Spanish friend 


THE MAYOR OF GALWAY. 


65 


with too much regard. The fire of jealousy 
was instantly lighted up in'his distempered 
brain, and at their next interview he accused 
his beloved Agnes with unfaithfulness to 
him. Irritated at its injustice, the offended 
fair one disdained to deny the charge, and the 
lovers parted in anger. 

On the following night while Walter Lynch 
slowly passed the residence of his Agnes, he 
observed young Gomez to leave the house, as 
he had been invited by her father to spend that 
evening with him. All his suspicions now 
received the most dreadful confirmation, and in 
maddened fury he rushed on his unsuspecting 
friend, who alarmed by a voice which the 
frantic rage of his pursuer prevented him from 
recognizing, fled towards a solitary quarter of 
the town near the shore. Lynch maintained 
the fell pursuit till his victim had nearly 
reached the water’s edge, when he overtook 
him, darted a poinard into his heart, and 
plunged his body, bleeding, into the sea, which, 
during the night, threw it back again upon the 

n 2 


TIIF, MAYOR OF O M.M'AY. 




shore, "where it was found, and recognised on 
the following morning. 

The wretched murderer, after contemplating 
for a moment the deed of horror which he had 
perpetrated, sought to hide himself in the 
recesses of an adjoining wood, where he passed 
the night a prey to all those conflicting feelings 
which the loss of that happiness he had so 
ardently expected and a sense of guilt of the 
deepest dye could inflict. He at length found 
some degree of consolation in the firm resolution 
of surrendering himself to the law, as the only 
means now left to him of expiating the dread¬ 
ful crime which he had committed against 
society. With this determination he bent his 
steps towards the town at the earliest dawn of 
the following morning; but he had scarcely 
reached its precincts, when he met a crowd ap¬ 
proaching, amongst whom, with shame and 
terror, he observed his father on horseback, 
attended by several officers of justice. To the 
present the venerable magistrate had no suspi¬ 
cion that his only son was the assassin of his 
friend and guest; but when young Lynch pro- 


THE MAYOR OF GALWAY. 


67 


claimed himself the murderer, a conflict of feel¬ 
ing seized the wretched father beyond the 
power of language to describe. To him, as 
chief magistrate of the town, was entrusted the 
power of life and death. For a moment the 
strong affection of a parent pleaded in his breast 
in behalf of his wretched son ; but this quickly 
gave place to a sense of duty in his magisterial 
capacity as an impartial dispenser of the laws. 
The latter feeling at length predominated, and 
though he now perceived that the cup of 
earthly bliss was about to be for ever snatched 
from his lips, he resolved to sacrifice all 
personal considerations to his love of justice, 
and ordered the guard to secure their prisoner. 

The sad procession moved slowly towards 
the prison amidst a concourse of specta¬ 
tors, some of whom expressed the strongest 
admiration of the upright conduct of the magis¬ 
trate, while others were equally loud in their 
lamentations for the unhappy fate of a highly 
accomplished youth who had long been a uni¬ 
versal favorite. But the firmness of the mayor 
had to withstand a still greater shock when the 


68 THE MAYOR OF GALWAY. h 

mother, sisters, and intended bride of th^ 
wretched Walter, beheld him who had been 
their hope and pride, approach pale, bound, 
and surrounded with spears. Their frantic 
outcries atfected every heart except that of the 
inflexible magistrate, but he had now resolved 
to sacrifice life with all that makes life valua¬ 
ble rather than swerve from the path of duty. 

In a few days the trial of Walter Lynch took 
place, and in a provincial town of Ireland, con¬ 
taining at that period not more than three thou¬ 
sand inhabitants, a father was beheld sitting in 
judgment, like another Brutus, on his only 
son, and like him, too, condemning that son to 
die, as a sacrifice to public justice. Yet the 
trial of the firmness of this upright and inflexi¬ 
ble magistrate did not end here. His was a 
virtue too refined for vulgar minds: the popu¬ 
lace loudly demanded the prisoner’s release, 
and were only prevented by the guards from 
demolishing the prison and the mayor’s house 
which adjoined it; and their fury was increased 
on learning that the unhappy prisoner had now be- 
comeanxiousforlife. Totheseebullitionsofpopu- 


THE MAYOR OF GALWAY. 


69 


lar rage were added^ the intercessions of per¬ 
sons of the first rank and influence in Galway, 
and the entreaties of his dearest relatives and 
friends ; but while Lynch evinced all the feelings 
of a father and a man placed in his singularly 
distressing circumstances, he undauntedly de¬ 
clared that the law should take its course. 

On the night preceding the fatal day ap¬ 
pointed for the execution of Walter Lynch, 
this extraordinary man entered the dungeon of 
his son, holding in his hand a lamp, and ac¬ 
companied by a priest. He locked the grate 
after him, kept the keys fast in his hand, and 
then seated himself in a recess of the wall. The 
Avretched culprit drew near, and with a falter¬ 
ing tongue, asked if he had any thing to hope. 
The mayor answered, No, my son—your 
life is forfeited to the laws, and at sun-rise you 
must die ! I have prayed for your prosperity ; 
but that is at an end—with this world you have 
done for ever—were any other but your 
Avretched father your judge, I might have 
dropped a tear over my child’s misfortune, and 
solicited for his life, even though stained with 


70 


THE MAYOR OF GALWAY. 


murder—but you must die—these are the last 
drops which shall quench the sparks of nature— 
and, if you dare hope, implore that heaven may 
not shut the gates of mercy on the destroyer of 
his fellow-creature. I am now come to join 
with this good man in petitioning God to give 
you such composure as will enable you to meet 
your punishment with becoming resignation.** 
After this affecting address, he called on the 
clergyman to offer up their united prayers for 
God’s forgiveness to his unhappy son, and that 
he might be fully fortified to meet the ap¬ 
proaching catastrophe. In the ensuing sup¬ 
plications at a throne of mercy, the youthful 
culprit joined with fervour, and spoke of life 
and its concerns no more. 

Day had scarcely broken when the signal of 
preparation was heard amongst the guards 
without. The father rose, and assisted the 
executioner to remove the fetters which bound 
his unfortunate son. Then unlocking the door 
he placed him between the priest and himself, 
leaning upon an arm of each. In this manner 
they ascended a flight of steps, lined with sol- 


THE MAYOB OF GALWAY. 


71 


diers, and were passing on to gain the street, 
when a new trial assailed the magistrate for 
which he appears not to have been unprepared. 
His wretched wife, whose name was Blake, 
failing in her personal exertions to save the life 
of her son, had flown in distraction to the heads 
of her own family, and prevailed on them, for 
the honour of their house, to rescue him, and 
save their name from ignominy. They flew to 
arms, and a prodigious concourse soon assem¬ 
bled to support them, whose outcries for mer¬ 
cy to the culprit must have shaken any nerves 
less firm than those of the mayor of Galway. 
—He exhorted them to yield submission to 
the laws of their country; but finding all his 
efforts fruitless to accomplish the ends of jus¬ 
tice at the accustomed place and by the usual 
hands, he by a desperate victory over parental 
feeling, resolved himself to perform the sacri¬ 
fice which he had vowed to pay on its altar. 
Still retaining a hold of his unfortunate son, 
he mounted with him by a winding stairs 
within the building, that led to an arched 
window overlooking the street, which saw 


72 


THE MAYOR OF GALWAY. 


filled by the populace. Here he secured the 
end of the rope which had been previously 
fixed round the neck of his son, to an iron sta¬ 
ple which projected from the wall, and after 
taking from him a last embrace, he launched 
him into eternity. 

The intrepid magistrate expected instant 
death from the fury of the populace ; but the 
people seemed so much overawed or confound¬ 
ed by the magnanimous act, that they retired 
slowly and peaceably to their several dwellings. 
The innocent cause of this sad tragedy is said 
to have died soon after of grief, and the un¬ 
happy father of Walter Lynch to have seclud¬ 
ed himself during the remainder of his life from 
all society, except that of his mourning family. 
His house still exists in Lombard-street, Gal¬ 
way, which is yet known by the name of 
^ Dead-man’s-lane,’ and under the front win¬ 
dow are to be seen a skull and cross-bones 
executed in black marble. 

From the battle of Knocktuadh to the death 
of Henry VII. which occurred in 1509, com¬ 
parative tranquillity appears to have prevailed 


DEATH OF KING HENRY VII. 


73 


in Ireland. If you have closely studied the 
events of his reign, you must have observed 
that every effort made in this country to sub¬ 
vert the throne of Henry, tended only to rivet 
the authority of England more firmly over the 
island. Since the invasion of Edward Bruce in 
the fourteenth century, the power of the natives 
had been greatly strengthened ; and if during 
the sanguinary contests between the Yorkists 
and Lancastrians they had possessed such 
leaders as Robert Bruce or William Wallace, 
the independence of Ireland would probably 
have been completely restored. That such an 
event did not take place at a period apparently 
so propitious, we can only attribute to the 
over-ruling hand of Providence, who has, no 
doubt, for the wisest ends, permitted a union 
to subsist between the two islands, for many 
centuries, fitful, feverish, and disturbed in¬ 
deed ; but which, let us hope, will end at 
length in one of consolidated affection, 
equally beneficial to the interests of both coun¬ 
tries. However unamiable the character of 
Henry Vli. appears, it must be acknowledged 


VOL. II. 


£ 


74 


EFFECTS OF 11 IS OOVEKNMENT. 


that he evinced great wisdom and moderation 
in his conduct towards Ireland ; and we cannot 
but admire his prudence in overlooking the 
offences of the earl of Kildare, reconciling him 
to his interests, and entrusting him with the 
government of a country where his energetic 
valour and munificence made him at once an 
object of terror and affection. This active 
viceroy used his power with so much vigour 
and fidelityj that during the last ten years of 
this reign the crown nearly regained that au¬ 
thority which had been almost lost by the 
misrule of two centuries. The pale was tran¬ 
quillized and secured ; some of the most turbu¬ 
lent native chieftains became the avowed 
friends of the English government, and a more 
kindly intercourse was commenced between the 
inhabitants of both races. 


HENRY VIII. 


75 


CHAPTER IV. 


Accession of Henry VIII.—Death of the Earl 
of Kildare—Vigorous conduct of Gerald, his 
son^ and successor in the Government—Hew 
Feuds between the Geraldines and Butlers — 
Margaret^ the great Countess of Ormond — 
Kildare accused —His interview with Car¬ 
dinal Wolsey—Anecdote of Kildare — The 
Earl of ♦S'urre^ Lord Deputy—Insurrection 
of Con O’Neill—Submission of O'Neill and 
O’ Donnel — O’More's Insurrection — Surrey’s 
popularity and recall—The Irish in France 
—Exploit of Nicholas Walsh—Fierce 
Rufus) Earl of Ormond^ Lord Deputy — 
Murder of Talbot of Belgard—Dissensions 
between Ormond and Kildare — Kildare^Lord 
Deputy—Treasonable practices of Desmond 
—Kildare suspected and summoned to Eon- 
don—Pierce Earl of Ossory restored to 
power—Murder of the Bishop of Leighlin — 
Machinations of the Emperor Charles V .— 

E 2 



76 


HENRY VIII. 


Sir William Skeffmgton Lord Deputy — 
Kildare restored—His ambitious and violent 
conduct—Secret proceedings of the Coun¬ 
cil—Kildare summoned to London—The 
Government is committed to Lord Thomas 
Fitzgerald—Humours of Kildare's Execution 
—Insurrection of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald 
—Action at Salcock-wood—Murder of Arch’ 
bishop Alan—Correspondence between Fitz¬ 
gerald and Lord James Butler—Siege of the 
Castle of Dublin—Repulse of Fitzgerald — 
Arrival of Sir William Skeffington—Siege of 
Maynooth—Final suppressio?i of the Insur¬ 
rection—Death of the Earl of Kildare — 
Lord Leonard Grey^ Lord Deputy — Exe¬ 
cution of Lord Tho?nas Fitzgerald and his five 
Uncles—Escape and adventures of young 
Gerald Fitzgerald. 

Few princes have ascended a throne with 
moe brilliant prospects than king Henrj VIII. 
In the prime of youth, with an indisputable 
title, and a treasury become rich beyond exam¬ 
ple through the grasping and parsimonious cha¬ 
racter of his father, he assumed the sceptre of a 


INSURRECTIONS. 


77 


powerful kingdom. The beauty of his person, 
his frank and generous manners, and his profuse 
grandeur soon gained him the caresses of his 
subjects, and the flattery of foreigners; 'but a 
love for military glory engaged him in military 
expeditions, which, though attended by little 
advantage to his subjects, were conducted with 
a vain parade of splendor that speedily dissipat¬ 
ed those treasures, which, if wisely employed, 
might have conferred solid blessings on his 
subjects. 

Though the state of Ireland, at such a period, 
was necessarily neglected, Henry on his acces¬ 
sion, had the prudence to continue the earl of 
Kildare in the government, and that nobleman 
did not relax for a moment in his efforts for 
maintaining the authority of the crown. Poli¬ 
tical affairs Avere managed with considerable 
prudence, while the viceroy flew in person to 
every part of the country Avhere insurrection 
dared to raise its head. But in one of these 
expeditions which he undertook against the 
O’Mores, a powerful sept in Leix, (the Queen’s 
county) he received a wound of which he died 


78 DEATH OF THE EARL OF KILDARE. 

in October, 1513; an event that excited the 
greatest consternation amongst the friends of 
English authority, and a proportionable de¬ 
gree of exultation amongst its enemies. 

The great earl of Kildare, as he is justly 
called, left issue eight sons and six daughters, 
of whom Gerald, the eldest son, was appointed 
to succeed him in the Irish government. His 
name s^^rved to rally the scattered troops, and 
check the outrages of the disaffected ; while 
his vigorous conduct soon evinced that he in¬ 
herited his father’s spirit. Having first defeated 
O’More. he entered Ulster, subdued the clan 
O’Reilly, and took the castle of Cavan. In 
the east he overthrew the sept of O’Toole in 
Wicklow ; and having slain their leader, sent 
his head as a present to the mayor of Dublin.— 
He also suppressed some commotions in Mun¬ 
ster by compelling the town of Clonmel to sur¬ 
render ; and by these vigorous proceedings he 
quickly extinguished every appearance of in¬ 
subordination in the different provinces. 

The period of tranquillity that ensued was 
short, as those feuds which had so long raged 


MARGARET COUNTESS OF ORMOND. 


79 


between the great families of the Geraldines 
and Butlers, burst forth with extraordinary 
violence on the death of Thomas earl of 
Ormond, who was one of the most wealthy and 
most highly favored nobleman of the English 
court. Pierce Rufus (or the red,) his succes¬ 
sor, had married, as I have already stated, 
a daughter of the late earl of Kildare, an 
alliance which her father hoped would be the 
means of terminating the terrible dissensions 
which prevailed between those two noble 
houses. But the event proved quite contrary 
to his expectations, for this lady appears to 
have sacrificed all her predilections for the 
honor of her own family to the ambition of 
raising that of her husband from the state of in¬ 
feriority i ito which it had for some time fallen 
in Ireland; and the great countess of Ormond, 
as she is generally designated, appears to have 
possessed a character in every way fitted for 
such a task. An ancient writer informs us that 
Pierce, earl of Ormond was himself a plain 
simple gentleman saving in feats of armsbut 
that his countess was “ a lady of such port, that 


80 


GERALD EARL OF KILDARE. 


all estates of the realm crouched unto her, and 
so politick, that nothing was thought substan¬ 
tially debated without her advice. She was 
manlike and of tall stature, very liberal and 
bountiful—a sure friend—a bitter enemy; hard¬ 
ly disliking where she fancied ; not easily fan¬ 
cying where she disliked.^’ She is said by 
tradition to have frequently taken unfair means 
to aggrandize her family at the expense of her 
neighbours—it appears certain, however, that 
she greatly improved the counties of Kilkenny 
and Tipperary by introducing artificers of 
various kinds from Flanders, who gave to the 
inhabitants a useful example of industry. 

As the present greatness of the Kildare fami¬ 
ly proportionably depressed that of Ormond, 
the ambitious countess stimulated her husband 
to use every means in his power to supplant the 
lord deputy in the royal favour. Cardinal Wol- 
sey who was at this time in the zenith of his 
authority, readily listened to the insinuations 
of Ormond, that Kildare had alienated the 
king’s revenue, and raised his consequence by 
maintaining a traitorous correspondence with 


KILDARE AND CARDINAL WOLSEY. 


81 


O’Neill and his other Irish connexions. To 
answer these serious charges the viceroy was 
summoned into England in 1519, being per¬ 
mitted by the king to entrust the reins of 
government to his kinsman, Sir Thomas Fitzge¬ 
rald of Lackagh. 

Soon after his arrival in London, Cardinal 
Wolsey brought a formal accusation against the 
earl; and among other crimes, charged him 
with desiring to reign in Ireland as if it were 
his own kingdom. To which Kildare replied, 
with 'a spirit not unworthy of his father, I 
would, my lord, that you ’and I had changed 
kingdoms, but for one month. I would trust to 
gather up more crumbs in that space, than twice 
the revenues of my poor earldom. But you are 
well and warm : so hold you, and upbraid me 
not with such an odious term. I slumber in a 
hard cabin, when you sleep in a soft bed of 
down. I serve under the cope of heaven, when 
you are served under a canopy. 'I drink water 
out of my skull, (a mean culinary vessel) when 
you drink wine out of golden cups. 'My 
courser is trained to the field, when your jenet 


82 


ANECDOTE OF KILDARE. 


is taught to amble. When you are graced, and 
belorded, and crouched and kneeled unto, then 
I find small grace with our Irish borderers, 
except I cut them off by the knees.” At these 
words the Council smiled, and the haughty 
cardinal perceiving that he had no simpleton to 
deal with, rose from the table in a fume, and 
deferred the trial of the business until further 
proofs should arrive from Ireland. 

The character of Kildare was open and ge¬ 
nerous ; and though irritable he was easily ap¬ 
peased, as appears from the following incident. 
While enraged at one time with some of his 
servants for a fault which they had committed, 
one of his horsemen sportively offered Boyce, 
his gentleman, an Irish hobby, if he would 
pluck a hair from the earl’s beard. Boyce went 
up to his master respectfully, in the very tempest 
of his passion, and said, If it like your lord- 
ship, one of your horsemen has promised me a 
choice horse, if I pluck one hair from your 
beard.” ^‘I agree,” said the earl, “but if thou 
pluck any more than one, I promise thee to 
pluck my fist from thine ear.” 


EARL OF SURREY LORD DEPUTY. 


88 


As nothing except vague suspicions could be 
adduced against Kildare, the cardinal found it 
impossible to procure his condemnation, but he 
had sufficient influence to prevent a definitive 
sentence being pronounced in his favour; and 
he soon after found means to convince the king 
of the propriety of committing the government 
of Ireland to some English nobleman of rank 
and talent, who should be wholly indifferent to 
the various factions which distracted the coun¬ 
try. Thomas Howard, earl of Surrey, son to 
that duke of Norfolk who had conquered the 
Scots at Flodden, was accordingly appointed to 
the high office; w hile means w ere found to ap¬ 
pease the injured feelings of Kildare, whose 
consequence had been increased since his arrival 
in England by his rnarriage with Lady Elizabeth 
(Grey, daughter of the marquis of Dorset. He 
was pronounced clear of every imputation on 
his honour; and in the following year he accom¬ 
panied the king into France with a magnificent 
retinue, and was present at the celebrated in¬ 
terview of Henry and Francis I. between Ar- 
dres and Guisnes. 


84 


CON o’NEILL BACCAGII. 


Surrey, in'the mean time, liad commenced 
the administration of the Irish government with 
a vigour and prudence which promised the 
greatest success. The Ulster chieftain, Con 
O’Neill, nicknamed Baccagh or the Limper, 
having made a furious inroad into Meath, the 
viceroy marched against him with such celerity 
that the invader retired precipitately to his 
fastnesses, and, alarmed at the activity displayed 
by the new viceroy, he speedily sent an embassy 
to Dublin, desiring to be received into the fa¬ 
vour and protection of the government, and 
promising that his future conduct should prove 
the sincerity of his attachment to the English 
crown. Surrey received the embassy in the most 
favourable manner, and transmitted an account 
of O’Neill’s submission to the court of England, 
adding, that he considered it a presage of the 
general tranquillization of the island, which 
could be best effected by admitting the whole 
nation to the benefits of English law. O’Don- 
nel, another northern chieftain, who had lately 
returned from Rome, made about the same time 
the warmest professions of attachment to the 


o’more’s insurrection. 83 

viceroy; and to encourage these loyal demon¬ 
strations, Surrey was empowered to confer on 
them the honour of knighthood : a collar of 
gold was also presented to O’Neill in the name 
of the king, with an invitation to visit the court 
of England. Still the means were neglected of 
breaking the power of those turbulent chieftains 
by imparting to the entire population those pri¬ 
vileges of English law and protection which 
they had so frequently sought since the reign 
of Edward III. 

O’Neill’s invasion had scarcely been repelled 
when the viceroy was again called to the field, 
to suppress a furious insurrection of O’More, 
the chieftain of Leix, an expedition in which 
the valour and conduct of lord Surrey was se¬ 
verely tried. I would not have noticed this 
petty broil, but to mention the daring heroism 
of an Irish soldier, and the narrow escape of 
the Lord Lieutenant. In one of the many 
skirmishes that took place, the earl pursued the 
flying enemy at the head of his cavalry. One 
of O’More’s followers, reckless of his life, re¬ 
solved, if possible, to check the advance of the 


86 


surrey’s wise GOTERNMBNT. 


royal forces by killing their noble leader ; and 
concealing himself for this purpose at the side 
of a wood, he discharged his piece full in the 
viceroy’s face. The ball struck the visor of his 
helmet, which was providentially down, and 
penetrated no further, while the Irishman was 
pursued by some English soldiers who cut him 
in pieces. O’More for the present, escaped to 
his strong holds, bnt Surrey adopted such mea¬ 
sures to cut off his resources, as soon reduced 
him to submission. 

Lord Surrey spent two years in his govern¬ 
ment of Ireland, and though nearly the whole of 
that period was occupied by him in military ser¬ 
vice, he showed a sincere anxiety to promote the 
best interests of the country. His impartial 
justice, wise moderation, and magnificent hos¬ 
pitality, gained for him the affections of a 
highly susceptible people, while he watched 
over the interests of the crown with a vigilant 
circumspection. He laid before the court of 
England some plans for reforming the state of 
the country committed to his care, which might 
have been productive of the happiest effects; 


SURREY^S RECALL. 87 

but unfortunately, they were as usual, disre¬ 
garded, and the island was still left a prey to 
anarchy and confusion. In the eyes of the 
vain glorious Henry, a foreign war, from which 
he could derive no solid advantage, was con¬ 
sidered of more importance than the tranquilli- 
zation of so fair a portion of his dominions, and 
the earl of Surrey was removed from a govern¬ 
ment which he had so wisely administered, to 
lead the armies of his sovereign into France.— 
His departure was witnessed with deep regret 
by the people of both races, and when the 
king’s pleasure was signified to raise a body of 
troops among the native Irish, they flocked 
in crowds to the standard of their late revered 
viceroy. Seven hundred of those volunteers, 
under the command of lord Le Poer, were 
mustered in St. James’s Park, London, to the no 
small amazement of the English; and their 
fierce bravery and too often irregular mode of 
warfare, seemed to justify the epithet of ‘wild 
Irish,’ by which they had been so long distin¬ 
guished in the sister island. When sometimes 
acting as purveyors to the army, they are said 


88 


THE IRISH IN FRANCE. 


to have practised the following method of 
obtaining a supply of provisions. Having 
caught a bull, they tied him to a stake and 
scorched him with burning faggots till the cries 
of the tortured animal attracting the cattle in 
every direction, they were easily conveyed to 
the camp. Such of the Irish as were made 
prisoners by the enemy were put to death in 
the most cruel manner, and the Irish did not 
fail to retaliate on all Frenchmen who fell into 
their hands. Of their personal valour in this 
war, many anecdotes are told, one of which I 
shall relate. At the close of the siege of 
Boulogne, a body of French troops encamped 
on the west side of the town, beyond the haven, 
and one of them had the hardihood to challenge 
any man of the English army to come over and 
meet him in single combat. Though every cir¬ 
cumstance was in favour of the challenger, the 
place of combat being at his own side of the 
haven, and the passage over very wide, yet 
Nicholas Walsh, an Irish soldier, accepted the 
challenge, swam across the water, slew his 
antagonist, and returned to his own party with 


PIERCE EARL OF ORMOND LORD DEPUTY. 89 

the Frenchman’s head in his mouth. Accounts 
like these may give some idea of the intrepidity 
and semi-barbarism of the native Irish of that 
period. Nor was this latter quality confined to 
the Irish soldiers; unhappily, the military an 
nals of all nations abound with instances of 
ferocity not less revolting to humanity than those 
which I have narrated. 

The earl of Surrey, during his administration 
of the Irish government, had given his fullest 
confidence to the rivals of Kildare, and at his 
instance. Pierce earl of Ormond, was appointed 
his successor. The native chieftains, who had 
so lately submitted, now took advantage of the 
great reduction of the military force, to renew 
their private quarrels ; and civil strife so raged 
in various quarters of the country, that the 
chief governor was frequently called upon to 
arbitrate between the contending factions, the 
leaders of whom made peace and war w ith all 
the independence of sovereign princes. A sin¬ 
gular incident of this kind occurred In 1522.— 
Mac Gillaphadruig, or Fitzpatrick, the Irish 
chieftain of Ossory, conceiving himself to have 


90 


Fitzpatrick’s embassy. 


been aggrieved by the lord deputy, resolved 
to seek redress from kieg Henry, not as a sub¬ 
ject, but as a sovereign. He accordingly sent 
an ambassador to the English court, who meet¬ 
ing the king at the door of his private chapel, 
delivered his commission in the following words 
with the most solemn gravity : Sta peclibuSy 
Domine Rex! Dominus mens Gillapatricius 
me misit ad te^et jus sit dicer e^ quod si non vis 
castigare Petriim Rufum^ ipse facit helium 
contra te. (Stand, my lord, O king !—My 
lord Gillpatrick has sent me to thee, and com¬ 
manded me to say, that if you do not chastise 
Peter the Red, he will make war upon thee.) 
Henry treated the ambassador with silent con¬ 
tempt, Peter the Red was not chastised, and 
the power of Fitzpatrick did not enable him 
to resent the affront. 

The difficulties of Ormond’s government 
were increased at this time by the return of 
Kildare to Ireland, who soon commenced secret 
practices against his old rival, which a sangui¬ 
nary incident that occurred in the winter of 
15^2 fanned into an open flame. While Tal- 


THE GERALDINES AND BUTLERS. 9l 

bot of Bellgard, a trusty friend of the earl of 
Ormondj was on his way to Dublin to keep his 
Christmas with the lord deputy, he was assas¬ 
sinated near Ballymore by James Fitzgerald, 
one of the Kildare family. The murderer was 
seized, sent to London, and by the orders of 
Wolsey, led through the streets of that metro¬ 
polis, haltered and manacled preparatory to his 
execution ; but the duke of Suffolk, father-in- 
law to Kildare, had at this time great influence 
at the English court, and Fitzgerald was ulti¬ 
mately pardoned. Meantime mutual accusa¬ 
tions being preferred by Kildare and Ormond, 
commissioners were sent to Ireland to inquire 
into the allegations of each party; but in the 
examination which followed, Kildare received 
such support from his powerful connexions in 
England, that sentence was again pronounced 
in his favour; and to complete his triumph he 
was appointed to supersede his antagonist in the 
Irish government. 

The ambitious rivalry of these two great 
families did not terminate here: all the actions 
of the new deputy were watched with a jealous 


92 Desmond’s treaty with francis i. 

eye by his disappointed adversaries; and events 
soon occurred which enabled them once more 
to fill the English court with suspicions of Kil¬ 
dare’s designs. His kinsman, James earl of 
Desmond, who had lately succeeded his father 
Maurice, manifested all the restlessness of 
his most ambitious ancestors, and carried his 
opposition to the English government to such a 
length, that in the year 1524, he engaged in a 
league otfensive and defensive with Francis I. 
of France, against the king of England. Henry 
was so enraged when he heard of this transac¬ 
tion, that he issued orders to the lord deputy 
to use the most vigorous eflforts to seize the per¬ 
son of the earl of Desmond. Kildare made a 
show of obedience, but after penetrating a little 
way into Munster, some insurrectionary move¬ 
ments in the north afforded him a sufficient 
pretext for giving up the pursuit of his kinsman. 
This conduct was urged at the court of London 
as a proof that he had formed traiterous con¬ 
nexions with the king’s enemies, and secretly 
supported the earl of Desmond in his treasona¬ 
ble proceedings. To answer those serious 


MURDER OF THE BISHOP OF LEIGHLIN. 93 


charges he was again ordered to England, and 
committed to close confinement, from whence 
he was at length released by the interposition 
of his English friends, a large number of whom 
became sureties for his future obedience. 

Lord Delvin, who succeeded Kildare in the 
Irish government, was quickly engaged in hos¬ 
tilities with the native chieftains, and at a par¬ 
ley with O’Connor of OfFaley, was treache¬ 
rously seized and made prisoner. This paved 
the way for the restoration to power, in 1528, 
of Pierce, earl of Ossory, (he having about 
this time resigned the title of Ormond, at the 
king’s request, to Sir Thomas Bullen,) but 
neither his own vigour, nor the masculine un¬ 
derstanding of his countess, was sufficient for 
the government of a country a prey to factions 
excited or supported by his still powerful rivals, 
and filled with disorders of various kinds. Do¬ 
ran, bishop of Leighlin, an excellent prelate, 
had been lately murdered by Maurice Kava- 
nagh, his own archdeacon, whom he had re¬ 
proved for some misconduct. Lady Slane, a 
daughter of Kildare, found means to involve the 


94 SIR W. SKEl'FINGTONj LORD DEPUTY. 

deputy with her numerous partisans of the Irish 
race ; while the emperor Charles V. in revenge 
for the process which Henry had commenced 
to procure a divorce from Catherine of Arra- 
gon, was endeavouring to raise an insurrection 
in Ireland, and for this purpose, in imitation of 
his rival Francis I. had entered into a negocia- 
tion with the earl of Desmond. But this treaty 
proved as unavailing as the former, for this 
vain-glorious chief received soon after a signal 
overthrow from his uncle at Mourne-abbey 
near Mallow, and died in the following year. 

Henry now hoped in some measure to remedy 
the disordered state of Ireland by sending over 
an English chief-governor. He accordingly ap¬ 
pointed Sir William Skeffington to that office, 
with Kildare, again restored to favour, as his 
chief-adviser, who vigorously co-operated in 
the viceroy’s efforts to maintain tranquillity, 
till delivered by tVie fall of Cardinal Wolsey 
from the apprehensions he entertained of his 
power, he determined no longer to act a subor¬ 
dinate part: and finding means to have Skef¬ 
fington recalled in 1532, the reins of govern- 


KILDARE LOUD DEPUTY. 


95 


ment were entrusted once more to his own hands. 
Having now apparently vanquished all his ene¬ 
mies, he is said to have indulged the most am¬ 
bitious designs of exalting his family and parti¬ 
sans, and depressing the power of his rivals. 
Assuming all the rude state of an Irish prince, 
the native chieftains flocked around him, and 
were received as his kinsmen and associates. 
Contrary to an existing law he gave one of his 
daughters in marriage to O’Connor of Offaley, 
and another to the prince of Ely O’Carroll. 
Having became involved in the private feuds of 
the former, he received a shot in the head at 
the siege of Birr, which is said to have disor¬ 
dered his intellects, and added to the subse¬ 
quent confusions of his administration. Conti¬ 
nually surrounded by an armed rabble, he could 
at all times support his partisans, and execute 
vengeance on his enemies, amongst whom the 
earl of Ossory and his family were treated with 
particular rigour, and their lands ravaged and 
invaded without mercy. 

While the deputy was thus thoughtlessly, 
gratifying his ambition or vengeance, the ma- 


96 


MEMORIAL OF THE COUNCIL. 


jority of the council were forming plans for his 
complete overthrow", under the guidance of 
Ossory Allan, archbishop of Dublin, and some 
other individuals of influence and sagacity. 
After various secret meetings, they in 1534 
agreed to present a memorial to the king, ^vhich 
detailed all the grievances of the subject, and 
the disorders of the state. It asserted that the 
extent of English laws, manners, language, and 
habit was now reduced to the narrow compass 
of twenty miles. This evil it attributed to the 
illegal exactions and oppressions which had dri¬ 
ven the English tenantry from their settlements ; 
the tribute they were compelled to pay to the 
Irish lords for a precarious protection; the rab¬ 
ble of disaffected Irish that were placed on 
their lands, and the alienation of the crown 
lands which by reducing the revenue to a state 
of dangerous insufficiency, left the realm w ith- 
out succour or resource. Many of the public 
disorders w ere ascribed by the memorial to a too 
frequent change of chief-governors ; and it be¬ 
sought the king’s highness in future to intrust 
the charge of his Irish government to some 


KILDARE ACCUSED. 


97 


loyal subject sent from his realm of England, 
and whose sole object should be to support the 
honor and interests of the crown, unconnected 
with Irish factions. 

Henry, with his usual violence and precipita¬ 
tion, fixed on the earl of Kildare as the chief 
cause of all these evils, and commanded him im¬ 
mediately to repair to London, committing the 
government to some person for whom he would be 
responsible. The viceroy, now too justly appre¬ 
hensive of the consequences of his irregulari¬ 
ties, dispatched his countess to England to exert 
her influence with her powerful friends, and 
sought by various other means to evade the 
mandate for his departure. But Henry proved 
inflexible — Kildare was forced to obey; and 
his last acts consummated the folly and impru¬ 
dence of his government. He delivered the 
sword of state to his son Thomas, a youth, vain, 
rash, and obstinate, who had not yet attained 
his twenty-first year; and as he had good rea¬ 
son to fear that the outrages which he had 
committed on his rivals would be severely re¬ 
taliated during his absence, he ])rovided his 


F 


98 


INSURRECTION OF 


castles with arms and ammunition from the 
public stores, contrary to the king’s peremptory 
prohibition. 

It soon appeared evident that Lord Thonias 
Fitzgerald was deficient in the qualifications 
most necessary for the government of the coun- 
trj”^ at such a crisis. His person and external 
endowments were indeed well calculated to 
excite public admiration; but to the rashness of 
youth he added a great portion of family pride, 
an unbounded confidence in the power of the 
Geraldines, and an insolent contempt for the 
rivals of his house. The lords of the council 
'soon became offended at his petulance, and he 
was in no less danger from the suspicious vigi¬ 
lance of his enemies than the adulation of his 
friends. Intelligence having arrived that his 
father had been committed to the Tower, each 
party watched the movements of the other 
with the greatest jealousy, and the capital w'as 
filled with rumours and conjectures. A corres¬ 
pondence was kept up between the enemies of 
the Geraldines in England and Ireland, and 
one of the letters transmitted on this occasion 


LORD THOMAS FITZGERALD. 


99 


was said to have been brought away accident¬ 
ally from the apartment of a priest by John de 
la Hide, a friend of lord Thomas, which an¬ 
nounced the execution of the earl in the Tow er, 
and the meditated destruction of his whole fa¬ 
mily. The young deputy gave too ready an 
ear to the fatal intelligence, and being insti¬ 
gated by his Irish kinsmen O’Neill and O’Con-- 
nor, he determined to renounce his allegiance 
to the supposed destroyer of his father, and 
plunged at once into a rash and desperate rebel¬ 
lion. 

There was a mixture of magnanimity and 
folly in his first proceedings. On the 11th of 
June, 1534, he assembled at the castle of Kil- 
mainham, then the residence of the chief-go¬ 
vernor, about one hundred and forty Irish 
horsemen, at whose head he rode through the 
capital in his robes of state, accompanied by 
his uncles, sir John and Oliver Fitzgerald, 
James and John de la Hide, Burnet of Bali- 
griffen, Bath of Dollardstown, Field of Buske, 
and Rorke a famous pirate. They rushed tu¬ 
multuously to the council, who were at this 


100 FITZGEIIALD^S SPEECH TO THE COUNCIL. 

time assembled in St. Mary’s abbey, and wfio 
when lord Thomas entered their chamber, rose 
respectfully, expecting that he would take his 
place. But this the young deputy declined, 
and requesting them to be seated, thus ad¬ 
dressed them : 

^‘Howsoever injuriously we be treated, and 
forced to defend ourselves in arms, yet say not 
hereafter, but that in the open hostility which 
we here proclaim, we have showed ourselves 
no villains or churls, but warriors and gentle¬ 
men. This sword of estate is yours, not mine; 
I received it with an oath, and have used it to 
your benefit: I should offend mine honour if I 
turned the same to your annoyance, now that I 
have need of mine own sword, which I dare 
trust. As for this sword it llattereth me with 
a golden scabbard ; but it hath in it a pestilent 
edge, already bathed in the Geraldines’ blood, 
and whetted for further destruction. Save 
yourselves from us as from your open enemies. 
I am no longer Henry’s deputy, 1 am his foe. 
I am more disposed to meet him in the field, 
than to serve him in office; I have more mind 


PRIMATE CROMER. 


101 


to conquer than to govern ; and if all the hearts 
of England and Ireland that have cause thereto^ 
would join in this quarrel, as I trust they will, 
then should he be a by-word, as I hope he shall, 
for his heresy, lechery, and tyranny, wherein 
the age to come may score him among the an¬ 
cient princes of most abominable and hateful 
memory.” 

When the young deputy had terminated his 
violent harangue, Cromer, the primate, took him 
calmly by the hand, and pathetically remon¬ 
strated with him on the rashness and wicked¬ 
ness of an attempt at rebellion, grounded on 
uncertain rumour, and totally unjustifiable, 
even if that rumour were confirmed. lie warn¬ 
ed him against the folly of believing that he 
could subdue the kingdom by force, or retain 
it against the power of king Henry ; and he 
predicted, that if he persevered in the purpose 
which he had just avowed, he would involve 
his country in desolation and carnage, his whole 
family in ruin and dishonour, and himself in the 
terrible guilt of shedding innocent blood. 

Yea,” added the good primate, the child i§ 

F 2 


102 


PRIMATE CItOMER. 


not yet born that shall feel the smart of this 
day’s uproar.” 

While Cromer was delivering his speech, 
which he did with much emotion, some of the 
followers of lord Thomas, who did not under¬ 
stand a word of English, fancied that the pri¬ 
mate was encouraging their young chief in his 
enterprise, and one of the Irish bards, who al¬ 
ways attended on such occasions, instantly 
burst into a strain of impassioned verse in praise 
of the hero, whom he designated as the gallant 
silken lordj a title by which he was generally 
distinguished, on account of the richness of his 
dress, and the splendour of his train. The 
rhapsodist chided his delay and called him to 
the field, and the young Geraldine unhappily 
was more influenced by the romantic etfusion of 
the bard, than by the sage counsels of the pre¬ 
late of Armagh. Throwing down the sword 
of state, he rushed precipitately from the coun¬ 
cil; and as Dublin had been lately much weak¬ 
ened by the plague, he was permitted for some 
days to hover about the city, collecting his 
forces, and arranging his plan of operations. 


ACTION AT SALCOClC-WOOD. 103 

He was speedily joined by the O’Tooles of 
Wicklow, and some other Irish septs, with 
whom traversing the English pale, he compelled 
the inhabitants to take an oath of fidelity to 
his cause, on pain of imprisonment: and he sent 
emissaries to the pope, and the emperor Charles 
V. intreating their assistance. As the devasta¬ 
tion of Fingal, the principal granary of Dublin, 
now menaced the citizens with famine, they 
sent some forces for its protection ; but these 
were defeated near Salcock-wood, and eighty 
of them slain. Emboldened by this success, 
lord Thomas a})proached the gates of Dublin, 
and threatened to deliver up the city to de¬ 
struction, unless he were permitted to lay siege 
to the castle, where archbishop Allan, and some 
other enemies of the Geraldines had taken re¬ 
fuge. The constable of the castle, which was 
then defended by strong walls and towers, and 
encompassed by a broad and deep moat, relying 
on the security of the fortress, permitted the 
citizens to save their habitations from ruin, by 
accepting lord Thomas’s terms but Allan, 

• The castle was well supplied by the citizens upon this 


104 MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP ALLAN* 

filled with terror at the recollection that he had 
been the chief instrument in procuring the dis¬ 
grace of Kildare, had a vessel prepared secretly, 
in which he embarked for England ; but either 
through the ignorance or treachery of the pilot, 
who was a Fitzgerald, the ship was stranded 
near Clontarf. Allan took refuge in an adja¬ 
cent house, where his retreat was quickly dis¬ 
covered by a party of rebels stationed at Artain, 
who dragged him from his bed in barbarous 
triumph, and brought him, naked as he was, 
before lord Thomas and his uncles. Sir John 
and Sir Oliver Fitzgerald. The unhappy prelate 
cast himself on his knees, and adjured his arch¬ 
enemy by the love he bore his Maker, to spare 
the life of a Christian and a bishop. The young 
lord turned his horse from him with disdain, 
and exclaiming in Irish, Beir naim a bodach^ 
Away with the churl !” his sanguinary fol¬ 
lowers interpreted his orders, (whatever might 

occasion; alderman Fitzsimmons furnishing on his own 
account, twenty tuns of wine, twenty-four tuns of beer, 
two thousand dried ling, and sixteen hogsheads of powdered 
beef. 


FITZGERALD AND BUTLER. 


105 


have been their commander’s intention) in the 
most cruel sense, and instantly hewed the arch¬ 
bishop to pieces. 

O’Neill and some other Irish chieftains, now 
joined the standard of rebellion, and lord Tho¬ 
mas, forgetful of the deadly feuds which had so 
long subsisted between his family and the house 
of Butler, made an effort to associate lord James, 
the eldest son of the earl of Ossory, with him 
in his insane project. He entreated him, by a 
trusty messenger, to call to mind their near 
affinity, he invited him to unite with their 
countrymen in rescuing the land from the op¬ 
pression of a tyrant, and he expressly proposed 
tiiat when Ireland was reduced by their joint 
efforts, that it should be equally divided be¬ 
tween them. Butler, however, was too politic 
to be caught in the snare, and sent him the fol¬ 
lowing blunt reply, which showed that he had 
as little expectation of his success as confidence 
in his promises. Your notorious treason,” 
said Lord James, hath distained your honor 
and shamed your kindred. You are so liberal 
in parting stakes with me, that a man would 


SIEGE OF 


loa 

♦s. 

ween you had no right to the game; and you 
are so importunate in craving my company, as 
if you would persuade me to hang with you for 
good fellowship. Think you that James Butler 
is so ungracious as to sell his truth for a piece 
of Ireland, were it so, as it cannot be, that the 
chickens you reckon were both hatched and 
feathered. Be sure, that in this quarrel, I had 
rather die thy enemy, than live thy partner; 
and the best way I can requite the kindness 
you proffer me, is to advise you, far as you have 
gone, to look well before you leap over.^’ 

Enraged at this reproachful rejection of his 
overtures, Fitzgerald entered Ossory at the 
head of a considerable force. Lord James 
Butler met him at Jerpoint near Thomastown, 
and slew many of his followers; but being him¬ 
self severely wounded, he was obliged to retire 
to his house at Dunmore, and the whole prince¬ 
ly extent of the earl’s demesnes became ex¬ 
posed to the ravages of a barbarous enemy. In 
the meantime six hundred of the Geraldine 
forces, under Captain James Field, had entered 
the city, and according to compact, laid siege 


tHe castle or dublix^ 


107 


to the castle of Dublin ; but a messenger from 
England announcing the speedy arrival of suc¬ 
cours, the citizens suddenly closed their gates, 
and thus cooping up Field and his party, cut 
off all communication with the surrounding 
country. They then briskly assailed the be¬ 
siegers of the castle, some of whom plunged 
into the river, and escaped by swimming; but 
the greater number were taken prisoners. 

This event which Lord Thomas denominated 
an act of the basest treachery, diverted him 
from his further prosecution of the devastation 
of Ossory, and having collected his forces, he 
approached the walls of Dublin, and demanded 
that his men should be released. The citizens 
replying in terms of defiance, he immediately 
commenced hostilities by blocking up the castle 
on the south side ; but the guns of the fortress 
having destroyed Sheep (now Ship) street, 
where Fitzgerald began his operations, he was 
compelled to move his camp to the westward, 
lie now endeavoured to cut off the supply of 
water by stopping the course of the river about 
the town, destroyed New-street and Thomas- 


3 08 DEFEAT OF LORD THOMAS FITZGERALD. 

court, the ancient residence of his ancestors, 
and planted a gun against New-gate, through 
which he purposed to force an entrance. But 
the citizens became at this time much encou¬ 
raged by secret intelligence that many who 
were compelled to follow in the train of Fitz¬ 
gerald’s tumultuary army were well affected to 
the king’s interests, and this was confirmed by 
the fact that numbers of the arrows which had 
been shot into the town were headless, while 
some of them conveyed letters of intelligence to 
the besieged. They now in considerable force 
rushed out at the gate, which the Irish had set 
on fire, and exclaiming that the royal army had 
arrived, dispersed the assailants with the loss 
of a hundred of their number. 

Lord Thomas with difficulty eluded the pur¬ 
suit of his enemies, and took refuge in the house 
of the Grey Friars, in Francis-street, till the 
following morning, when having joined the 
remnant of his shattered forces, he took up ano¬ 
ther position in the neighbourhood, and opened 
a negociation with the citizens, by which he 
proposed to raise the siege, and restore a num- 


REPULSE OF THE ENGLISH. 


109 


ber of their children who had been removed 
from Dublin during the plague, provided they 
would release his men, use their good offices to 
procure his pardon and that of his confederates, 
and supply him with money, ammunition, and 
artillery. The two first propositions were 
agreed to by the citizens, but the last was re¬ 
jected ; and the young Geraldine was reduced 
to such extremities, that he was forced to 
submit. 

He now proceeded to inspect the situation 
of his strong castle of Maynooth; a duty from 
which he was quickly recalled by the arrival of 
some English troops in the harbour of Dublin. 
A detachment had already made good their 
landing; but he attacked and completely dis¬ 
comfited them before they had gained the 
city, though he was himself encountered and 
wounded in single combat by the English com¬ 
mander. After this exploit, he planted his 
artillery on the hill of Ilowth, and cannonaded 
the English transports with such effect, that 
the greater number were compelled to put to 
sea ; and a vessel laden wiiu horses was captur- 


no 


Slli WILLIAM SKKFFINGTOM. 


ed. But notwitlistanding these disasters, Sir 
William Brereton, a renowned English knight, 
found means to land on the opposite side of the 
harbour, with five hundred men; and being soon 
followed by Sir William Skeffington, the new 
loid deputy, with a fresh body of troops and 
several distinguished officers, they entered the 
city amid public rejoicings and acclamations, 
wliich filled the rebels at Howth with such 
dismay, that they struck their camp and re¬ 
tired. 

Skeffington having received information that 
lord Thomas intended to lay siege to Drogheda, 
marched towards that town ; but finding that 
on the contrary he had retreated into Con¬ 
naught, the deputy returned to Dublin, where 
a lingering illness detained him during the 
winter. Fitzgerald in the mean time threw 
strong garrisons into his castles of Maynooth, 
Rathangan, Portlester, Carlow, Leix, and Athy; 
and encouraged by O’Neill and O’Connor, he 
soon again found himself at the head of a large 
tumultuary army. 

In the spring of 1635, Sir William Brereton 


SIEGE OF MAYNOOTH. 


Ill 


laid siege to Maynooth, which was then ac¬ 
counted one of the best furnished castles in 
Ireland. The garrison replied to his summons 
in terms of defiance, and for fourteen days re¬ 
pelled every attack of the besiegers ; nor is 
there a doubt that they would have held out 
till relieved by lord Thomas, but for the 
treachery of the governor. This man, whose 
name was Christopher Parese, was Fitzgerald’s 
foster-brother: yet sacred as this tie was held 
in those days, he agreed, for a bribe, to betray 
his trust. Having contrived to intoxicate the 
garrison, the English scaled the walls at the 
moment of their inebriety, and soon made them¬ 
selves master of the fortress. The traitor im¬ 
mediately proceeded to Dublin to receive his 
reward ; and when he appeared before the de¬ 
puty, he recounted the benefits he had received 
from Fitzgerald, as if the reward should be pro¬ 
portioned to his ingratitude. Sir William 
Sketfington viewed the wretch with indigna¬ 
tion and contempt. “How,” said he, “couldst 
thou betray the trust reposed in thee by so 
kind a master.” Then, turning to his officers, 


112 


FLIGHT AND SUBMISSON OF 


he said, Pay this traitor the money, then off 
with his head.” He was paid his hire, and 
instantly led to execution. 

Lord Thomas was on his march to the relief 
of Maynooth, at the head of seven thousand 
men, when the fatal intelligence of its surren¬ 
der, once more baffled his hopes, and dispersed 
his army. With the few that remained faithful 
he, with a desparate rashness, sought to en¬ 
counter the lord deputy ; but his hasty levies 
fled at the first discharge of the English artil¬ 
lery, and one hundred and forty who fell into 
the hands of the royal forces, were put to death 
without mercy. Deserted by his followers, the 
unhappy youth now became a wretched outlaw, 
till after many hair-breadth escapes, he contrived 
to get into Munster, where he probably enter¬ 
tained hopes of obtaining assistance from his 
relatives of the house of Desmond. But fierce 
domestic dissensions raging at this time among 
the members of that family, the royal influence 
was powerful enough to restrain them from 
giving any effectual countenance to the rash 
rebellion of their kinsman. James, the con- 


LORD THOMAS FITZGERALD. 


113 


federate of Francis I. of France, had died some 
years before. Thomas, his uncle and successor, 
enjoyed his honour but five years ; and his son 
James, who was educated at the court of Eng¬ 
land, was murdered soon after his return to his 
native country, by his cousin. Sir Maurice Fitz¬ 
gerald. Such was at that period, the wretched 
state of society in Ireland. 

Lord Leonard Grey, one of the most efficient 
officers under the lord deputy, pursued the 
young Geraldine into Munster; but the diffi¬ 
culties attendant on an expedition into a country 
of which his partisans were in a great measure 
ignorant, soon pointed out the necessity of re¬ 
sorting to stratagem rather than force for effect¬ 
ing the suppression of this dangerous insurrec¬ 
tion. Proposals were accordingly made to lord 
Thomas of the most favorable description as 
respected his personal safety, which is said to 
have been sealed by a solemn participation of 
the sacrament : and O’Neill and O’Connor 
having just made their peace with the govern¬ 
ment, Fitzgerald consented to dismiss his troops, 
and attend lord Grey to Dublin j who was soon 


114 


CAPTURE AND EXECUTION OF 


after appointed lord deputy, on the death of Sir 
William Skeffingtoii. 

In the mean time the unhappy author of all 
these disasters had proceeded to London to cast 
himself at the king’s feet in the full confidence 
of pardon. But king Henry was now so preju¬ 
diced against the house of Fitzgerald, that he 
would attend to no mediation; and while lord 
Thomas was on his way to Windsor, he was 
arrested, and conveyed to the Tower. Here he 
was at length convinced of his folly, when he 
learned that his father had not been put to 
death by the king, but had sunk the victim of 
his own rash and outrageous rebellion. He now 
found himself, by the death of his father, earl 
of Kildare; but this dignity he was suffered to 
enjoy for a very short period: and so fu¬ 
rious was the vindictive monarch against the 
whole lineage of Kildare, that he ordered lord 
Grey to seize his five uncles, three of whom 
opposed the late insurrection, and send them 
prisoners to London. To accomplish the king’s 
wish, artifice was necessary, and the deputy 
accordingly invited to a banquet Sir James Fitz- 


I 


LOUD THOMAS AND HIS UNCLES. 


115 


gerald of Leixlip, with his brothers Sir John, 
Oliver, Richard, and Walter ; and after enter¬ 
taining them in a style of the most cordial hos¬ 
pitality, he suddenly seized and sent them on 
board a ship bound for London. It is said, that 
during the voyage, they maintained their cour¬ 
age, till the captain accidentally informed them 
that his ship was named ‘‘ the Cow when 
they recollected Avith terror an old prophecy, 
^ that the five sons of an earl should be carried 
to England in a coav’s belly, but should never 
return.^ They Avere all, Avith their unfortunate 
nepheAv, convicted soon after of high treason, 
and executed at Tyburn on the 3d of February, 
1536. 

Nor did the royal vengeance stop here, for 
every male branch of this unfortunate family 
Avas sought out Avith the most vindictive jea¬ 
lousy. Two sons of Gerald earl of Kildare, 
by his marriage with lady Elizabeth Grey, still 
remained, viz. Gerald, now in his thirteenth 
year, and Edward, in his ninth. The latter was 
secreted in England by the Suffolk family till 
the king’s fury passed ovei. 


116 


ADVENTURES OF 


The romantic adventures of young GeraldFitz- 
gerald require more particular notice. At the time 
of the arrest of his brother and uncles, he was 
lying sick of the small-pox at Donore in the 
county of Kildare, from whence he was secretly 
conveyed in a basket by his tutor, Thomas Le- 
verous, afterwards bishop of Kildare, first to 
his sister lady Mary O’Connor of Offaley, then to 
the neighbourhood of Limerick, and afterwards to 
Kilbritton, in the county of Cork, the seat of his 
aunt Eleanor, who was the widow of MacArthy 
Reagh, prince of Carbery. This lady assented 
to marry O’Donnel, the chief of Tyrconnell, 
on the express condition that he should protect 
her young nephew ; but soon discovering that 
her husband had entered into a treaty with the 
English government for betraying his ward, 
she made up a hundred and forty gold Portu¬ 
guese pieces, and with them completely equip¬ 
ped young Gerald and his tutor, and transport¬ 
ed them into France; and as soon as their 
escape was secured, she upbraided O’Donnel 
with his perfidy, and indignantly withdrew from 
his society and habitation. 


GERALD FITZGERALD. 


117 


Young Gerald was well received by the king 
of France; and when the English ambassador 
demanded him as a rebel to his sovereign, he 
was permitted to escape to Flanders. Thither 
he was pursued by one Sherlock, an emissary 
of the ambassador; but the governor of Valen¬ 
ciennes committed Sherlock to prison, and suf¬ 
fered Fitzgerald to proceed to Brussels. At 
this capital the unhappy youth became again 
the object of persecution, but fortunately es¬ 
caped to Liege, where the prince-bishop took 
him under his protection; and at the recom¬ 
mendation of the emperor, allowed him one 
hundred crowns per month for his expenses. 
From hence, after some time, his kinsman cardi¬ 
nal Pole, removed him to his palace at Rome, 
■where he spent three years. He then entered 
the service of the Knights of Malta; on 
many occasions he acted in a manner which 
reflected honour on his high descent, and was 
at length appointed master of the horse to the 
grand duke of Tuscany. During his various 
peregrinations, he is said to have had many 
jsingular adventures and hair-breadth escapes. 


118 ADVENTURES OF GERALD FITZGERALD. 

One day, while hunting in company wdth car¬ 
dinal Farnese, his horse fell with him into a 
pit of vast depth. But providentially, in his 
descent, he caught hold of some bushes or roots, 
which projected from the side of the pit, and. 
thus the rapidity of his descent was diminished; 
and while his horse tumbling precipitately to 
the bottom, was instantly killed, the gallant 
youth, struggling from bush to bush, was ena¬ 
bled to drop unhurt upon him. In this situa¬ 
tion he remained for three hours, until a favou¬ 
rite dog, having missed his master, traced him 
to the pit, and by his piteous bowlings, attract¬ 
ed the attention of the company to his perilous 
situation. 

Thus was young Gerald Fitzgerald merci¬ 
fully preserved to restore the ancient house of 
Kildare to its pristine honours. After the 
death of his royal persecutor, he returned to 
England, where a highly gifted mind and ele¬ 
gant manners, soon made him an object of ge¬ 
neral admiration. He became a particular fa¬ 
vourite with king Edward VI. and was ulti¬ 
mately restored to all the honours and posses¬ 
sions of his family. 


ALTEKATIONS IN UELlG10x\. 


119 


CHAPTER V. 


Alterations in Religion—Obstacles to the 
Establishment of the King’s Supremacy in 
Ireland—Archbishop Browne—Opposition of 
Primate Cromer to the new changes—The 
Parliament declares the King Supreme Head 
of the Church—Suppression of Monasteries — 
Alarming Discontents excited by the Court of 
Rome—Arrest and Suicide of Thaddeus 
Byrne—Insurrection of O’Neill and the 
Northern Chieftains—Battle of Bellahoe — 
FlemingLordSlane—Recall andExecution of 
Lord Leonard Grey-Tragical death of James 
Earl of Ormond—Activity of Sir William 
Brereton—Sir Anthoiiy St. Leger^ Lord 
Deputy—Henry VIIL proclabned King of 
Ireland—Distinguished Reception of the 
Irish Chieftains at Greenwich— Nezo Civil 
and Ecclesiastical Regulations—Commercial 
Disputes between Limerick and Galway —■ 


120 


ALTERATIONS IN RELIGION. 


Piracies of Sir Fineen O’Driscol — Destruc- 
tion of Dunalong Castle by the Waterfor- 
dians—Extraordinary Escape of Lieutenant 
Grant—Introduction of Stage Plays into Ire¬ 
land. 

Hitherto religion had no part in the factious 
warfare which for nearly four centuries polluted 
the soil of Ireland, as the two races that strug¬ 
gled for superiority professed the same creed, 
and occasionally submitted the decision of their 
disputes to the Homan pontiff as the supreme 
arbiter of their affairs. Henceforth the 
sacred name of religion is to become not only a 
strong line of demarcation between the inha¬ 
bitants of English and Irish descent, but to 
split the English themselves into two factions, 
who, some from pure conviction, and others 
from less worthy motives, embraced the side 
of the king or the pope. 

The religion of Ireland is an important sub¬ 
ject which would itself require a volume of 
Stories. I shall, therefore, in this work notice 
it no farther than what is absolutely necessary 
to elucidate those transactions in our history. 


ALTERATIONS IN RELIGION. 121 

with which it is inseparably interwoven ; trans¬ 
actions presenting the singular anomaly of a 
nation clinging with pertinacity to a foreign re¬ 
ligious yoke imposed on them by a people 
whose civil domination they detested. 

Whatever may have been the peculiar sys¬ 
tem of Christianity which prevailed in Ireland 
under our native kings, it is very generally ac¬ 
knowledged, that its church was wholly inde¬ 
pendent of the Roman See, till after the con¬ 
version of the Irish Danes in the eleventh cen¬ 
tury. Gillebert, bishop of Limerick, first ex¬ 
ercised the legatine authority in this country in 
the year 1110, and in 1154, pope Eugene III. 
conferred palls on our archbishops. In 1172, 
the Synod of Cashel confirmed pope Adrian’s 
grant of the kingdom of Ireland to Henry II. 
and the papal yoke was then completely rivetted 
upon the country. From this period to that of 
which I write, the annals of the Irish church, 
consist almost wholly of disputes between the 
popes and the kings of England respecting the 
appointment of bishops—remonstrances of the 
clergy against the admission of foreigners into 


ALTERATIONS IN RELIGION. 

the church, and quarrels of great violence and 
long duration between the archbishops 'of Ar¬ 
magh and Dublin respecting precedence. Mat¬ 
ters of higher importance began now to demand 
the attention, and exercise the talents of states¬ 
men and theologians. 

The universal power over the consciences of 
men which had for ages been arrogated by the 
Roman pontiff had during a long period been 
vigorously opposed by intrepid spirits in differ¬ 
ent countries in Europe, but comparatively 
with little success till the glorious discovery of 
the art of printing dispelled the darkness of the 
cloister, and burst the fetters which had so 
long enthralled the human mind. The Bible, 
from which alone the pure doctrines of Chris¬ 
tianity could be learned, was inaccessible to all 
men but the clergy, till the invention of this 
noble art, by facilitating the multiplication of 
copies of the sacred writings, caused them to 
be more generally known and better under¬ 
stood. In the early part of the sixteenth cen¬ 
tury, the corrupt state of the church and the 
necessity of a Reformation were very generally 


ALTEilAXlOlSrS IN RELIGION. 


U3 


acknowledged throughout Europe; but men 
differed widely with regard to the mode of ef¬ 
fecting these important objects : for while one 
party asserted that the lopping off some exter¬ 
nal abuses was only necessary, the other con¬ 
tended that nearly the whole system of the 
Romish religion, both in doctrine and disci¬ 
pline,' was opposed to the word of God, and 
therefore required a radical change. Before 
the middle of that century Reformers of this 
description abounded in every country of 
Europe; and in many parts of Germany, Swit¬ 
zerland, and the north of Europe, the supre¬ 
macy of Rome was utterly renounced, and the 
reformed religion permanently established. 

The political state of England was at this 
time peculiarly favourable to the plans of the 
Reformers. The inflexible obstinacy of the 
papal see in refusing its sanction to the repudia¬ 
tion of queen Catherine, had roused the irrita¬ 
ble and determined temper of Henry, who, from 
being the avowed champion of papal authority, 
at once became its bitterest opponent, and 
resolved to abrogate the Pope’s authority, and 


124 


ALTERATIONS IN RELIGION. 


suppress all monasteries in his dominions. He 
meditated, however, no change in the doctrines 
or formularies of the Church of Rome ; on the 
contrary, to check any attempt of this nature, 
he published his Six Articles, which like a two- 
edged sword menaced alike the abetters of the 
pope’s supremacy, and the impugners of trau- 
substantiation; and both parties too frequently 
felt the keenness of its edge. 

As the sincere partisans of the Reformation 
were extremely numerous in England, and the 
great body of the people attached to the crown, 
Henry found little difficulty in obtaining his 
wishes in that country. He was accordingly 
declared by the convocation and the parliament 
to be supreme head, on earth, of the church of 
England, and invested with all the powers an¬ 
nexed to that supremacy. But in extending 
his new authority to Ireland, the king had ob¬ 
stacles to encounter of the most serious descrip¬ 
tion. Here the spirit of religious inquiry had 
made little progress, to which bitter jealousies, 
perpetual civil wars, and a constant state of in¬ 
security, were highly unfavourable. Their un- 


ARCHBISHOP BROWNE. 


125 


quiet and uncivilized mode of life indisposed the 
people to any speculations of an abstruse nature, 
and in all points not immediately connected 
with their present existence, they willingly 
submitted to the guidance of their clergy. The 
same devoted attachment to the authority of 
the hierarchy, which nearly three centuries be¬ 
fore had led the people of Ireland to relinquish 
the independence of their church, now bound 
them to the papal see by the strongest ties, and 
in this prejudice they were confirmed by an 
opinion which very generally prevailed not only 
among the natives but the Anglo-Irish, that Ire¬ 
land was a fief of the pope, in right of the 
church of St. Peter, by virtue of which the 
seignory of the kingdom had been conferred on 
Henry II. and that it was therefore profane and 
damnable to deny the authority of the pope in 
his own inheritance. 

But notwithstanding these serious obstacles, 
Henry resolved to establish his supremacy also 
over the Irish church, and Doctor George 
Browne, a zealous ecclesiastic attached to the 
reformed party was selected as the chief in- 


126 OPPOSITION OF PRIMATE CROMER. 

strument for eifecting this design. Having, 
while provincial of the Augustinian Friars,in Lon¬ 
don, become remarkable for his benevolence 
and the liberality of his religious sentiments, 
he was chosen by lord Cromwell, the king’s 
Vicar-General, to fill the see of Dublin, become 
vacant by the murder of archbishop Allan ; and 
appointed one of the commissioners for procur¬ 
ing an acknowledgment of the king’s supremacy. 
But this was soon found to be an object of no 
easy attainment; for no sooner had the commis¬ 
sioners explained their instructions, than Cro¬ 
mer, the primate, declared against any attempt 
to divest the holy poutitf of his prerogative as 
detestable and impious; he pronounced a tre¬ 
mendous curse on all who should sacrilegiously 
acknowledge the king’s supremacy ; and sent 
messengers to the pope to represent the dan¬ 
gers of the church, and claim the immediate 
interposition of the holy father in defence of 
his own rights and interests in Ireland. 

Archbishop Browne represented the difficul¬ 
ties with which he had to contend to the Eng¬ 
lish government in the strongest language, and 


ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UOYAL SUPREMACY. 127 


recommended that the king's supremacy over 
the Irish church, might be enforced as in England 
by act of parliament. Pursuant to this advice 
Lord Leonard Grey assembled a parliament on 
the 1st of May, 1536, by which the king was 
made supreme head of the church of Ireland, 
and all connexion with Rome was utterly pro¬ 
hibited ; the first-fruits of all ecclesiastical be¬ 
nefices were vested in the king, and by one act 
twelve monasteries were suppressed. Other 
laws were enacted by this parliament which 
prohibited the payment of pensions to the Irish, 
or fostering or marrying with them ; and it was 
ordained that English schools should be esta¬ 
blished in every parish, and that all who could 
not afford to pay for the education of their 
children at these schools, should bring them 
up to trade or husbandry. 

Had the population of Ireland been previ¬ 
ously united by the abolition of national dis¬ 
tinctions, and an equal participation of civil 
rights, their deliverance from a foreign spiri¬ 
tual jurisdiction might have been received with 
gratitude as it had been by the great majority 


128 


DISCONTENTS. 


in the sister country ; but no means had been 
adopted by the English government to gain the 
affections of the native Irish, who, now forget¬ 
ting their private animosities, formed one com¬ 
mon bond of union with the discontented 
English lords in defence of what their clergy 
taught them to consider the unquestionable 
rights of the Roman pontiff. Lord Leonard 
Grey perceived the rising storm, and took 
active measures to repress it. lie traversed 
the province of Leinster, and compelled the 
refractory or suspected chieftains to renew 
their engagements to the government. He then 
entered Munster, where James earl of Des¬ 
mond, had commenced fierce hostilities with 
the Butlers, and compelled that turbulent chief¬ 
tain to take the oath of allegiance at his camp 
near Clonmel, and deliver up his natural son as 
a pledge of his fidelity. But in the Butlers, 
now become the most powerful family in Ire¬ 
land, the deputy found more obstinate anta¬ 
gonists. The earl of Ormond and his son 
having refused to attend him in his military 
progress, lord Grey detached a body of troops 


DISCONTENTS. 


129 


to ravage their lands. Complaints were made 
by both parties to the throne, which were re¬ 
ferred to the Irish council, by whom a formal 
reconciliation was elfected : but from this pe¬ 
riod the Butlers united with the partizans of 
Rome to accomplish the ruin of the lord de¬ 
puty. 

In the mean time archbishop Browne execut¬ 
ed with alacrity, the royal command for remov¬ 
ing images from the churches, which he replaced 
by the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten 
Commandments, in gilt frames, and enforcing 
the oath of supremacy on the clergy ; but 
many of them preferred expulsion from their 
benefices to taking this obnoxious oath. The 
difficulties of this zealous prelate were greatly 
augmented by the arrival of a private commis¬ 
sion from Rome, which enjoined his antagonist, 
primate Cromer, to persevere in supporting the 
papal authority ; empowered him to absolve 
all persons from their oath, who had acknow¬ 
ledged the king’s supremacy, and to declare 
all those accursed who held any power either 
ecclesiastical or civil, superior to that of the 


130 


THADDEUS BYRNE, 


holj church. The agents of Rome, however, 
did not rest satisfied with fulminating spiritual 
thunders, active emissaries being sent through 
the North to excite the Irish chiefs to take up 
arms. On the 24th of June, 1538, Thaddeus 
Byrne, a Franciscan friar, was arrested in Dub¬ 
lin, upon whose person was found a letter to 
O’Neill, signed by the bishop of Mentz in the 
name of the college of cardinals, in which that 
chieftain was excited to draw the sword against 
the heretical opposers of the pope’s authority ; 
and to stimulate O’Neill’s exertions, this letter 
stated that an ancient prophecy of St. Lazeria- 
nus, archbishop of Cashel, had been lately 
found, which said, that the church of Rome 
should surely fall when the Catholic faith was 
once overthrown in Ireland. Lord Grey put 
the friar in the pillory ; but being soon after 
commanded to send his prisoner to England, 
the unhappy man, in an agony of horror and 
distraction, put an end to his own life. 

This tragical event, however, did not pre¬ 
vent O’Neill from embracing the high honor 
which the church had conferred on him, of de- 


o’neill’s insurrection. 131 

fending the rights of the popedom. He roused 
the northern chieftains to arms, and appearing 
once more at their head, denounced vengeance 
against the enemies of the church. Being 
joined by O’Donnel, Magennis, O’Callaghan, 
O’Hanlon, and other chieftains, with consider¬ 
able forces, he entered Meath in the month of 
August, 1539, and after burning Navan and 
Ardee, advanced to" the hill of Tarah, where 
he mustered his army, and collected an im 
mense booty. But he appears to have formed 
no settled plan of operations, and after making an 
ostentatious display of his numerous forces for 
a few days, he retreated with his prey towards 
his own territory. 

During the progress of this insurrection the 
lord deputy had made vigorous exertions to 
collect an army for its suppression. The citi¬ 
zens of Dublin and Drogheda flocked with 
alacrity to his standard, and a small reinforce¬ 
ment of Cheshire men arrived under Sir Wil¬ 
liam Brereton, who manifested such zeal foi 
his master’s service, that though he was labour¬ 
ing under a fractured thigh, he insisted on 


132 


BATTLE OF BELLAHOE. 


being raised by pullies into his ship, that he 
miglit accompany his troop. O’Neill was al¬ 
ready on his retreat, but lord Grey pressed on 
him with such celerity, that he came up with 
his rear-guard at a place called Bellahoe, on 
the borders of Meath. The Irish were nu¬ 
merous and advantageously posted, with a river 
in their front, and they appeared fully resolved 
to defend the passage. The English, on the 
other hand, were determined to force it or pe¬ 
rish in the attempt. Fleming lord Slane,'hav¬ 
ing obtained the honour of leading the van¬ 
guard, ordered Halfpenny, his standard-bearer, 
to enter the river; but that timid officer declin¬ 
ing the perilous adventure, he snatched the co¬ 
lours from him and entrusted them to Robert de 
Betoa, who instantly rushed through the stream 
with his gallant leader, and they were ably 
seconded by numbers of their brave associates. 
When arrived on the opposite bank, they made 
a furious attack on the enemy, which being 
received with equal bravery, an obstinate 
battle ensued, in which the Irish maintained 
their ground, till dispirited by the fall of Ma- 


RECALL AND EXECUTION OF LORD GREY. 1 33 

gennis, their leader, they broke and fled in 
dismay towards the main-body, who being 
seized with the panic communicated by the 
fugitives, fled also precipitately to their differ¬ 
ent haunts ; and thus was this formidable force 
entirely dispersed, and the power of the nor¬ 
thern chieftains for the present completely bro¬ 
ken. 

Notwithstanding the signal service which 
lord Grey had rendered to the crown by the 
victory of Bellahoe, the machinations of his 
enemies procured his almost immediate recall. 
Soon after his return to Dublin he was com¬ 
manded to entrust the reins of government to 
Sir William Brereton, and repair to England, 
where he was committed to the Tower, and 
various charges were brought against him of op¬ 
pression, bribery, and sacrilege. Amongst 
other points he was accused of betraying lord 
Thomas Fitzgerald into a submission by a pro¬ 
mise of pardon for the purpose of destroying 
him ; and of favouring the escape of that lord’s 
younger brother, Gerald, who was his nephew 
and favourite. On these charges he was brought 


n 


134 TRAGICAL DEATH OF THE EARL OF ORMOxND. 


to trial for high treason; but though it is alleg¬ 
ed they had little weight of evidence to sup¬ 
port them, the unfortunate prisoner had such 
dreadful apprehensions of the king’s severity, 
that he preferred casting himself on Henry’s 
clemency by a confession of guilt to abiding the 
decision of this terrible tribunal. He found, 
however, when too late, the fallacy of the hope 
which he had indulged ; and the tyrant, forget¬ 
ful of his many faithful services, consigned him 
without remorse to the scaffold. Pierce the 
Red, earl of Ormond, the determined opponent 
of this unfortunate nobleman, had died a short 
time before, leaving his titles and great posses¬ 
sions to his son James, viscount Thurles, who 
after rendering some signal services to the 
crown in Connaught and Munster, was in 1 545, 
appointed to the command of a body of Irish 
forces who sailed into Scotland to assist the 
carl of Lenox. The expedition proving unsuc¬ 
cessful, the earl returned to London, where on 
the 17th of October, 1546, he, with nineteen 
of his servants, was poisoned at a supper given 
at Ely-house in Holborn. Thomas, his eldest 


SUBMISSION OF THE IRISH CHIEFTAINS. 135 


son and successor, then in his fourteenth year, 
was brought up at the English court with king 
Edward VI. with whom he was a particular 
favourite. 

The fall of lord Leonard Grey animated the 
Ulster chieftains to engage in a fresh insurrec¬ 
tion ; but Sir William Brereton, imitating the 
example of his predecessor, marched against 
them with a vigour and alacrity that dispersed 
at once their tumultuary forces. These repeat¬ 
ed overthrows completely paralysed the efforts 
of the Irish, and many of the most active insur¬ 
gents of both races became solicitous to make 
their peace with government, amongst whom 
were Con O’Neill, O’Brien of Thomond, and 
the earl of Desmond. The latter renounced 
the privilege which he had obtained of absent¬ 
ing himself from parliament, abjured the autho- 
' rity of the pope, and committed the care of his 
favourite son to the lord deputy, to be educated 
in the English manner. 

Such was the favorable aspect of affairs, when 
sir Anthony St. Leger, w as entrusted with the 
government of Ireland, in 1641; and to realize 


156 HENRY PUOCLAIMED RING OF IRELAND. 

the flattering presages of tranquillitj and pub¬ 
lic happiness, some important changes were 
contemplated. Soon after the arrival of the 
new deputy a parliament was assembled, by 
which it was resolved, that to give greater 
weight and brilliancy to the English govern¬ 
ment, the style of the sovereign should be 
changed from lord, to that of king of Ireland ; 
and that it should be high treason to impeach 
this title, or to oppose the royal authority. 
This statute was proclaimed at St. Patrick’^s 
church in Dublin, on the 23d of January, 
1542, and this important proceeding was quickly 
followed by the submission of all the Irish 
chieftains, who with many Anglo-Irish lords, 
renounced the papal authority in the fullest 
manner, and took the oath of allegiance. Con 
O’Neill, accompanied by the bishop of Clogher, 
visited king Henry at Greenwich, surrendered 
to him his estates and Irish titles, and coven¬ 
anted to adopt the English habits, manners, 
and language; and to assist the king like the 
members of the Pale, against all his enemies. 
Henry received the chieftain with peculiar 


IRISH CHIEFTAINS ENNOBLED. 


137 


marks of favour, regranted him his estates by 
patent, and in return for the Irish titles which 
he had renounced, he was created earl of Ty¬ 
rone ; and his son Matthew, baron of Dungan¬ 
non. 

Other chieftains were also encouraged by 
these marks of royal favour to repair to London, 
and were received with equal respect and at¬ 
tention. Murrough O’Brien, head of the royal 
house of Thomond, was created earl of Tho- 
mond, and baron of Inchiquin; and Ulick 
Bourke (Mac William) was elevated to the 
dignity of earl of Clanrickard and baron Dun- 
kellen. Fitzpatrick was created baron of Up¬ 
per Ossory, and some of the Anglo-Irish chiefs 
were also raised to the dignity of the peerage. 
All parties seemed to vie with each other in ex¬ 
tolling the king’s power and clemency, and anx- 
'ious to be attached by one common bond of 
loyalty to the crown. So outrageous,” says 
Ware, was this spirit of devotion to the sove¬ 
reign in some places, that the son of lord Up¬ 
per Ossory having committed a treasonable 

H 2 


138 


NEW REGULATIONS. 


offence, lie was delivered up to the hands of 
public justice by his own father.” 

The general tranquillity which now prevail¬ 
ed, encouraged the lord deputy to adopt some 
regulations in those districts where English laws 
and customs had for nearly two centuries fallen 
into disuse, which might gradually draw the 
people to a civilized mode of life. These regu¬ 
lations remedied certain abuses in ecclesiastical 
affairs, inflicted severe penalties on crimes, dis¬ 
couraged idleness, and, intended probably as a 
check on extravagance in dress, permitted 
noblemen to put no more than twenty cubits or 
bandies of linen in their shirts^ and that all in¬ 
ferior persons’should be proportionably confined 
pn this article of magnificence. It was not yet 
deemed advisable to introduce any new system 
of jurisprudence into the newly reformed dis¬ 
tricts ; but commissioners were appointed to 
decide controversies in the manner of the an¬ 
cient Brehons, referring all obstinate cases to 
the deputy and council. This plan, it was ex¬ 
pected, would draw off the people by degrees 
from dependence on their chieftains, and lead 


COMMERCIAL FEUDS. 


139 


them to look to the crown alone for defence 
and protection. These hopes were not 
eventually realized, yet the remainder of the 
reign of Henry VIII. was not disturbed by any 
insurrectionary movements against his govern¬ 
ment, though foreign powers did not relax in 
their efforts to excite the chieftains to revolt. 

Commercial jealousies raged to such an ex¬ 
tent during this reign, between the principal 
sea-ports on the southern and western coasts of 
Ireland, as frequently to occasion fierce hosti¬ 
lities both by sea and land. A war of this na¬ 
ture was carried on for twelve years between 
the merchants of Limerick and Galway, which 
was attended with some bloodshed, and termi¬ 
nated only by the interposition of the crown. 
Another piratical war was carried on between 
Waterford and some of the ports in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Cork, in which many instances of 
brav'ery w'ere displayed which would have been 
creditable to regular forces. Take the follow¬ 
ing as an instance. On the 20th of February, 
1537, four ships laden with Spanish wines, and 
consigned to the merchants of W^aterford, were 


140 


SIU FINEEN o’dRISCOL AND 


driven by a tempest into Cape Clear, Kinsale, 
and Baltimore. Sir Fineen O’Driscol, tlie 
hero of this part of the coast, had his resi¬ 
dence at the castle of Dunalong, or the Ship- 
castle, on the island of Inriisherkin, and his 
name was dreaded from the Bristol channel to 
the mouth of the Shannon. The prizes which 
he and his natural son Gilly Duff, or Black 
Gilbert, took by sea or land, were stored up in 
the Ship-castle; and here open house was kept 
for the gentry and pedlars, who came from all 
quarters to purchase bargains of wine, brandy, 
drapery, or other goods—the produce of their 
piracies. On the tempestuous night above 
mentioned, Gilly Duff was rowing along* the 
shore in his launch, when the Santa Clara ap¬ 
peared in distress at the entrance of Baltimore 
harbour. He approached to offer assistance, 
and proposed for three tuns of wine, to bring 
her safely into port. The bargain was struck, 
and in less than an hour she was securely moored 
under the castle of Dunalong. The captain 
and crew expressed gratitude for their deliver¬ 
ance, and Gilly Duff increased it by inviting 


THE MERCHANTS OF WATERFORD. 141 

them to the castle, where, he said, the fire of 
hospitality was never out on his father’s hearth. 
The captain and his wearied mariners gladly 
accepted the invitation, and enjoyed the food 
and festivity of sir Fineen O’Driscol, till sunk 
in sleep and wine, they left their vessel to her 
fate. They were instantly clapt in irons, the 
gallies of Gilly Duff boarded, the vessel, and 
before morning every pipe of wine which she 
contained was stored in the vaults of the castle, 
or the cellars of the adjoining Franciscan con¬ 
vent. 

When the merchants of Waterford received 
intelligence of this act of piracy, they equipped 
a well armed vessel, which sailed on the 3d of 
March for Baltimore, under the command of 
captain Dobbyn ; who coming up suddenly with 
the Santa Clara, boarded her on one side, while 
Gilly Duff with his men fled out at the other: 
and after firing several guns at the castle, Dob- 
byn brought off his prize. But this was not a 
sufficient satisfaction to the Waterford merchants 
for the insult and injury which they had sus¬ 
tained ; they, therefore fitted out a squadron of 


142 


SIEGE OF DUNALONG CASTLE. 


three ships, well appointed and victualled, and 
manned by four hundred men, which sailed for 
Baltimore, under the command of captains 
Woodlock and Dobbyn. SirFineen O’Driscol 
and the inmates of Dunalong castle were still 
carousing over the Spanish wines, when at day 
dawn on a fine April morning, the watch-tower 
bell gave notice that a hostile squadron was in 
sight, and in a few minutes they cast anchor 
before the castle. The battlements were in¬ 
stantly manned, and all the artillery of the 
fortress opened its fire on the ships: but this 
was answered with such effect by Woodlock’s 
little squadron, that a breach was speedily 
made, and the lYaterfordians, led on by lieuj:. 
Grant, rushed to the storm with a resoludon 
that proved irresistible; forced the barbican, 
burst into the castle, and hoisted St. George’s 
standard on the top of the tower. Sir Fineen 
O Driscol had already made his escape to Dun- 
boy ; but Gilly Duff, perceiving that all was 
lost, resolved to perish in the ruins of the castle. 
Seizing a flaming brand, he applied it to a pow¬ 
der barrel, and both victors and vanquished 


STAGE PLAYS. 


143 


were instantly launched into eternity. Grant 
alone stood uninjured in a recess of one of the 
tower windows, while the flames were'crackling 
around, and burning beams and melting lead 
falling on every side. At that moment lieut. 
Butler seeing the perilous condition of his gal¬ 
lant comrade, seized a cross-bow, and fastening 
a cord to a steel bolt, shot it up to Grant, who 
tying it to the stone mullion of the window, 
slided down in a moment and found himself 
secure in the arms of his companions. The 
men of Waterford continued five days on the 
island, during which they captured or destroy¬ 
ed seventy pinnaces belonging to O’Driscol, 
ruined the castle and convent, and returned in 
triumph loaded with booty. 

The reign of Henry VIII. was memorable 
for the introduction of stage-plays into Ireland. 
The members of the different guilds or corpo¬ 
rations of Dublin were the first actors, and we 
are told, that during the Christmas of 1 528 the 
carl of Kildare was invited every day to a new 
play performed on a stage erected in Hoggin 
(now College) Green—the taylors acting Adam 


144 


STAGE PLAYS. 


and Eve ; the shoemakers Crispin and Crispia- 
nus ; the vintners the story of Bacchus ; the 
smiths that of Vulcan ; the carpenters, Joseph 
and Mary ; and the comedy of Ceres was per¬ 
formed by the bakers. The priors of St. John 
of Jerusalem and All Hallows caused at the 
same time two plays to be acted, the one repre¬ 
senting the Passion of our Saviour, and the other 
the various Martyrdoms of the Apostles. So 
indecently were sacred and profane subjects at 
that time mingled together. When Henry 
VIII. was proclaimed king of Ireland all the 
lords passed through the streets in grand pro¬ 
cession in their parliament robes, the Nine Wor¬ 
thies was played, and the festivities concluded 
with tournaments and running: at the rine with 
spears on horseback. 


EDWARD VI. 


145 


CHAPTER VI. 


Accession of Edward VI.—Insurrection of 
O’More and O’Connor—Sir Edward Belling¬ 
ham, Lord Eeputy—The Earl of Desmond 
reclaimed—Sir Anthony St. Leger^ Lord 
Deputy—Efforts to establish the Deformation 
—Proclamation enjoining the New Liturgy 
—Opposition of Primate Dowdall—The Bi¬ 
ble jyrmted—Sir James Crofts^ Lord Deputy 
—Conference of the Clergy at St. Mary’s 
Abbey—Flight of Dowdall—Bale Bishop 
of Ossory—Commotions in the Provinces — 
Defeat of Sir James Crofts—Death of Ed¬ 
ward VI.—Accession of Queen Mary — Ge¬ 
rald Earl of Kildare—Fitzmaurice Lord 
Kerry—Sir Anthony St. Leger, Lord De¬ 
puty—Ejection of the Protestant Clergy-^ 
Proceedings and Sufferings of Bishop Bale 
—A Jubilee—The Earl of Sussex, Lord De¬ 
puty—The Homan Catholic iVorship restored 
—Nezc Counties — Commotions in the Pro- 


1 



146 


EDWARD VI. 


Vinces — 7'he Scotch coc^yelled from Carrickfer- 
—Murder of Lord Dungannon — Hostili¬ 
ties hetvoeen O' Neill and 0’Donnel—Surprise 
and Defeat of John O’ Neill—Death ofO’Ca- 
han—Feuds amongst the O’Driens of Tho- 
mond—Storp of Dean Cole. 

King Henry VIJI. terminated his eventful 
reign at Westminster on the 28th of January, 
1547 ; and the guardians of Edward VI. his 
infant successor, soon manifested a determina¬ 
tion to carry the alterations in the established 
mode of worship much farther than that arbi¬ 
trary and capricious monarch had contemplated. 
Henry had required nothing more than the 
transfer from the pope to himself'of the'eom- 
plete Control over ecclesiastical dignities and 
possessions ; but the mind of Edward, though 
only in his’ tenth year, was already well-in¬ 
structed in the principles of the Reformation ; 
and the great majority of his counsellors were 
actuated, some by zeal for the purity of reli¬ 
gion, and others by political motives, to give 
them a permanent establishment, by effecting 


o’more And o’connor. 


147 


a radical change in the doctrines, formularies, 
and discipline of the church. 

While these important measures were in pro¬ 
gress in England, precautions were adopted to 
guard against any fresh machinations of the papal 
party in Ireland to impede the Reformation in 
that country. Sir Anthony St. Leger was con¬ 
tinued in a government which he had hitherto 
administered with much wisdom; and Sir 
Edward Bellingham, a brave and skilful com¬ 
mander, was sent to his support w ith a consi¬ 
derable reinforcement. This force M'as soon 
called into the field to suppress a violent in¬ 
surrection of O’More and O’Connor, the chief¬ 
tains of Leix and Otfaley, who after their lands 
had been devastated, and the old inhabitants ex¬ 
pelled, were proclaimed traitors, and reduced 
to the situation of desperate fugitives. They 
were at length induced to attend St. Leger 
into England with the hope of experiencing 
equal clemency with the Irish insurgents during 
the late reign ; but they were instantly com¬ 
mitted to prison, where O’More died soon 
after, and their lands being declared forfeited, 

I 2 


I 


148 


SIR EDWARD BELLINGHAM AND 


were conferred on those persons by whose 
advice they had surrendered. 

For this service, which was the first for some 
centuries that increased the borders of the Pale, 
Bellingham was rewarded with the viceroyship, 
which he exercised, amidst the din of factions, 
with a wise and moderate vigour which procur¬ 
ed for him the title of the good Bellingham. 
In the year 1548 some attempts were made by 
Henry II. king of France to engage the nor¬ 
thern Irish in an insurrection against the English 
government; and at a meeting held by O’Neill 
of Tyrone, with Monluc, the French ambassa¬ 
dor, at which Wauchop, the Roman Catholic 
archbishop of Armagh, was present, it was agreed 
to accept that king’s overtures, provided his ma¬ 
jesty supplied them with money and two thou- 

■|» 

sand troops. About the same time lord Baltin- 
glass attempted to excite an insurrection in the 
Pale, which was suppressed by the vigilant wis¬ 
dom of the viceroy, and the offenders were re¬ 
conciled to the government. Bellingham adopted 
the same course of liberal policy, by M hich he 
appeared anxious to prevent rather than punish 


TME EARL OF DESMOND^ 


149 


rebellion, towards James earl of Desmond, who 
living on his lands in the rude independence 
of his ancestors, refused to obey the summons 
of the deputy to reside in the capital under his 
own inspection. The viceroy unexpectedly 
pierced into Munster, surprised the earl in his 
own house, and by kind expostulations prevailed 
on him to accompany him to Dublin, where he 
resided for a considerable time; and his mind 
became so impressed by the example and in¬ 
struction of Sir Edward Bellingham, with the 
advantages of civilized life, that he ever after 
continued a loyal subject and good citizen, and 
expressed his gratitude in daily prayers for his 
benefactor, by the name of the good Belling¬ 
ham. Indeed the whole object of his admini¬ 
stration appears to have been not only to guard 
the interests of the crown, but to protect the 
people from the oppression of their tyrannical 
lords. 

Yet this excellent chief-governor could not 
long resist the secret machinations of those 
great subjects who were dissatisfied with his 
administration, because it curbed their liceu' 


150 


SIR ANTHONY ST. LEGEU. 


tiousness. He was recalled at the close of 1549 
to give place to Sir Francis Bryan, one of his 
bitterest opponents ; who having married the 
widow of the late earl of Ormond, possessed, 
during the minority of her son, ail the conse¬ 
quence of that great family. The new viceroy, 
however, was cut off by the hand of death in 
less than a month, and his successor Brabazon 
quickly yielded the sword of state to Sir Antho¬ 
ny St. Leger, whose experience was again con¬ 
sidered necessary to further the views of the 
government on the subject of religion. St. 
Leger was instructed to convene a parliament 
soon after his arrival; but he found the general 
disposition of the people of Ireland wholly un¬ 
favourable to the attempt, being either opposed 
to any change in religion as arbitrary and impi¬ 
ous, or terrified at the papal denunciations against 
heresy and innovation. The expressions of 
these feelings had been considerably restrained 
during the rigorous government of Henry VIII. 
but in a minor reign, and when still greater 
compliances were required of them, they gave 
loud utterance to their abhorrence of- what they 


CHE IlEFOUMATION. 


151 


were taught to consider an impious innovation. 
It must indeed be acknowledged that those to 
wliom was entrusted the extension of the Re¬ 
formation in Ireland appeared to have no higher 
object in view than to level the outworks of the 
old system of religion, while they took no pro¬ 
per means to instruct the people in the princi¬ 
ples of that purer faith which was recommend¬ 
ed to their adoption. Images and relics were 
destroyed; abbeys and nunneries were suppress, 
ed, and the authority of Rome was abolished 
as far as acts of parliament could do it; but no 
pious, zealous ministers, acquainted with the 
Irish language, were sent to instruct a people, 
the great majority of whom were ignorant of 
any other. “Hard is it,” said Sir Thomas 
Cusack, the chancellor, “ that men should 
know their duties to God and to their king, 
when they shall not hear teaching or preaching 
throughout the year—preaching we have none, 
which is our lack, without which the ignorant 
can have no knowledge.” At the same time, 
the Romish clergy, who spoke the language of 
the people, were listened to with attention and 


152 


THE NEW LITURGT. 


affection ; and In the more remote parts of the 
island the bishops appointed by the pope con¬ 
tinued to enjoy their sees in defiance of the 
royal authority; so that wherever a bishop ap¬ 
pointed by the kincp was fixed, he was sure to 
meet a rival of papal nomination. 

Sir Anthony St. Leger, to whom the settle¬ 
ment of this delicate affair was entrusted, was 
suspected of not being over-anxious for its 
success; a suspicion which was fully confirmed 
at a subsequent period. As it was not deemed 
prudent, in the present state of public feeling, 
to convene a parliament, a royal proclamation 
dated the 6th of February, 1550, was ad¬ 
dressed to the clergy, enjoining them to accept 
the new liturgy, which was declared to be no¬ 
thing more than the prayers of the church 
translated into the English tongue for the edi¬ 
fication of the people. The lord deputy having 
submitted it to an assembly of the prelates and 
clergy, Dowdall, the primate, at the head of 
the northern ecclesiastics, declared himself its 
determined opposer; exclaiming, in a tone of 
scorn, that every illiterate fellow might now 


THE BIBLE PRINTED. 


153 


be enabled to read mass. The deputy replied 
that there were indeed too many illiterate 
priests as ignorant of the language in which di¬ 
vine service had hitherto been performed, as 
the people who attended them ; but the pre¬ 
sent alteration was designed to remedy this 
evil. Dowdall sternly warned the lord deputy 
to beware of the clergy’s curse, and then 
haughtily quitted the assembly, followed by the 
majority of the prelates. But Brown,, archbi¬ 
shop of Dublin, with Staples of Meath, Coyii of 
Limerick, Travers of Leighlin^ and Lancaster 
of Kildare, declared their concurrence with the 
king’s proclamation; and on the following Eas- 
ter-day the new liturgy was read for the first 
time in the cathedral of Christ Church, in the 
presence of the lord deputy and magistrates. It 
was printed soon after by Humphry Powell, 
and this was the first book printed in Ireland. 
The printing of the Holy Scriptures in English 
quickly followed ; and such was the avidity of 
the people to read them, that it is said one John 
Dele, a bookseller in Dublin, sold seven thou¬ 
sand copies in two years. Large Bibles were 


154 


SIR JAMES CROFTS, 


at this time chained to the pillars in the two 
cathedrals, whither the poorer classes flocked 
daily In crowds to read them. Had the Pro¬ 
testant clergy of that day been actuated by a 
desire for promoting Scriptural knowledge 
among the people, those obstacles would have 
easily been overcome, which afterwards produc¬ 
ed insuperable barriers to the progress of the 
Reformation. 

Sir Anthony St. Leger being again recalled, 
his place was supplied by Sir James Crofts, a 
zealous Protestant, under whose administra¬ 
tion great exertions were made to remove 
every vestige of the late mode of worship ; but 
the instruction of the people continued as 
much neglected as ever. The soldiery in 
some places committed such excesses in the 
plunder of churches, as to call at length 
for the interposition of tlie government ; and 
those proceedings, in connexion with the firm¬ 
ness exhibited by primate Dowdall, only 
tended to augment the affection of the peo¬ 
ple for the religion of Rome. The prelate 
of Armagh now resided in the abbey of St 


PRIMATE DOAVDALL. 


155 


Mary, near Dublin, taking no part in the coun¬ 
cils of the nation, and refusing all intercourse 
with his conforming brethren. Sir James 
Crofts, soon after his arrival, addressed a letter 
to the indignant prelate, in which he reminded 
him of the obedience that he owed to his sove¬ 
reign, of which Christ had left him an example. 
The viceroy offered to become the mediator be¬ 
tween him and his brethren, and requested him 
to appoint a place for holding a conference, for 
the purpose of restoring order and discipline to 
the church of Ireland, and thus preventing the 
necessity of severe measures, which otherwise 
the sovereign might find it necessary to adopt. 

Dowdall, in his reply to this letter, informed 
the lord deputy, that he had little hppe of an 
amicable adjustment of the present controversy, 
from any conference with a number of obstinate 
churchmen, whose judgments and consciences 
were totally opposite. He, however, accepted 
the viceroy’s offer ; but, maintaining the stately 
deportment which he had hitherto assumed, he 
refused to go to his lordship’s palace, alleging, 
that it would be inconsistent with that plan of 


156 CONFERENCE IN ST. MAIIY’s ABBEY. 

retirement which he had for some time adopted. 
Anxious for a settlement of the dispute. Sir 
James Crofts overlooked this mark of disre¬ 
spect, and the whole body of the clergy waited 
on the primate in the great hall of Mary’s- 
abbey, where, in the month of June, 1551, a 
theological dipute was held, in which Dowdall 
defended the Romish mass, and Staples, bishop 
of Meath, the Reformed mode of worship. But 
the discussion terminated as such public dis¬ 
putes generally end. Each party claimed the 
victory, and retired from the contest still more 
embittered against the other. 

As the Reformation had not 5 '^et been estab¬ 
lished in Ireland by a parliamentary enactment, 
the refractory prelate could not be legally pun¬ 
ished; but the government found means to 
wound his feelings in the most tender point, by 
rendering his see subordinate to that of Dublin. 
A contest for precedence had subsisted for ages 
between the archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, 
which had been terminated at length by an 
agreement, that each prelate should erect his 
crosier in the diocese of the other, and that, 


BISHOP BALE. 


157 


while the archbishop of Dublin should be en¬ 
titled primate of Ireland, the prelate of Armagh 
should, with more precision, be styled primate 
of ALL Ireland. But, by a royal patent issued 
this year, their relative situation was completely 
reversed, and all the powers and privileges of 
the primacy of all Ireland were conferred on 
the archbishop of Dublin and his successors. 
Deeply mortified at this indignity, or apprehen¬ 
sive, perhaps, that it was only a preliminary to 
further severities, Dowdall abandoned his dio¬ 
cese, and retired to the continent, thus depriv¬ 
ing his party of a leader whose station com¬ 
manded respect. The flight of the prelate 
being considered by the government as a re¬ 
nunciation of his pastoral charge, his place was 
soon after filled by doctor Hugh Goodacre. 
The celebrated John Bale, the determined im- 
pugner of popery, and a man of profound eru¬ 
dition, was nominated, at the same time, to 
the bishoprick of Ossory. 

The manner of Bale’s promotion was very 
singular. He had received his education at 
Cambridge, where he became a Carmelite friar; 


158 


BISHOP BALE. 


but being converted to Protestantism by the 
arguments of Thomas lord Wentworth, he mar¬ 
ried ; and in the reign of Henry VIII. was 
thrown into prison for preaching against the 
Romish ereed : but being delivered from con¬ 
finement through the interest of lord Cromwell, 
he retired to Germany, where he resided for 
several years, till the accession of Edward VI., 
when he returned to England, and was pre¬ 
sented with the living of Bishop’s Stoke. In 
August, 1552, the king paying a visit to South¬ 
ampton, Bale rode into the town, which was 
but five miles distant from his parsonage, though 
but lately recovered from a dangerous illness. 
As he passed by the house where the king was 
lodged, he was noticed by some of the royal 
attendants, who pointed him out to the young 
monarch. Edward is said to have instantly ex¬ 
pressed his pleasure, that he should fill the va¬ 
cant see of Ossory. Bale pleaded his poverty, 
age, and bad health, to excuse himself from un¬ 
dertaking the arduous charge ; but all his argu¬ 
ments being overruled, he was forced to repair 
to Ireland, and, with Goodacre, was conse- 


COMMOTIONS IN THE PROVINCES. 


159 


crated in Christ’s church, Dublin, in the month 
of February, 1553. Goodacre did not live long 
enough to render any service to the cause of the 
Reformation ; but on Bale’s arrival in Kilkenny, 
he commenced his mission with a zeal and bold¬ 
ness which kept him in a constant state of inse¬ 
curity, during the short time of his occupancy. 

While the kingdom was thus agitated by re¬ 
ligious discord, civil broils also prevailed in 
various quarters. Leinster remained in a toler¬ 
able state of tranquillity; but the family feuds 
of the O’Briens in Munster, and the Bourkes 
in Connaught, kept those provinces in a con¬ 
stant state of disquietude. The factious disor¬ 
ders of Ulster were still more alarming. The 
earl of Tyrone, notw'ithstanding his ample sub¬ 
mission to Henry VIII. had resumed the old 
feeling M'hich he entertained when he pronounc¬ 
ed a curse on any of the name of O’Neill, who 
should ever conform to the English manners, or 
associate with the Saxons. His late treaty with 
the French king had not been carried into effect; 
but the province became, about this time, greatly 
disturbed by violent dissensions in his family. 


160 


defeat of the viceroy* 


John and Hugh,, the legitimate sons of the earl, 
were incensed at their father for his unjust par¬ 
tiality to his spurious son, Matthew, for whom 
he had procured the title of lord Dungannon, 
and declared him his heir; and they accused 
him with having basely sacrificed the ancient 
dignity of his house by his submission to the 
king of England. Stung with these reproaches, 
the earl resolved once more to sacrifice his alle¬ 
giance to the vain hope of restoring his family to 
their ancient consequence. He now made com¬ 
mon cause with his sons, John and Hugh, against 
his late favourite, Matthew ; which being com¬ 
municated by the latter to the lord deputy, the 
earl and his countess were suddenly arrested 
and sent prisoners to Dublin. 

Incensed at what he pronounced an act of 
horrible perfidy, John O’Neill declared war 
against lord Dungannon, to whose assistance the 
deputy hastened with some newly raised levies. 
But O’Neill being reinforced by a body of 
Scots who had lately made a descent upon Ul¬ 
ster, attacked and defeated Sir James Crofts 
and his ally, with great slaughter, and spread 


MARY. 


161 


devastation through one of the most flourishing 
districts in the island, sixty miles in length, and 
forty in breadth. In one of the many skir¬ 
mishes that ensued in this destructive war, the 
deputy and captain Bagnall were taken prison¬ 
ers by the Scots; but they were soon after ex¬ 
changed for Sorley-buy Macdonnell, who had 
been for some time in confinement in the castle 
of Dublin. 

In the midst of this confusion, king Edward 
VI. died at Greenwich, in the sixteenth year 
of his age ; and the succession of Mary, on the 
6th of July, 1553, terminated, for the present, 
the efforts of the Reformers in both countries. 
The new queen confirmed all the state officers 
in their several departments; restored Dowdall 
to the office of primate of all Ireland, and 
granted a general pardon to all her subjects; 
but the only change made in religious matters 
during the first year of her reign, was the issu¬ 
ing of a licence for the celebration of mass, and 
the royal title of supreme head on earth of the 
church of Ireland was still inserted in all pub¬ 
lic acts. The most politic measures were, how- 


162 FITZ MAURICE, LORD KERRY. 

ever, resorted to, in order to prepare the minds 
of the people for the re-establishment of the 
Roman Catholic worship ; and among other acts 
of grace, Gerald, the young earl of Kildare, who 
had been so cruelly persecuted by Henry VIII. 
was restored to all the honours and possessions 
of his ancestors. In 1554 he returned to Ire¬ 
land, in company with Thomas, the young 
earl of Ormond, and a son of lord Upper Os- 
sory, both of whom had been educated w ith 
king Edward VI., and in especial favour with 
him. Charles Kavenagh, the head of the great 
Irish house of Mac Murchard, was now ele¬ 
vated to the peerage, by the title of lord Ba- 
lyan ; and O’Connor of Otfaley was liberated 
from his long confinement in London, through 
the intercession of his daughter, and permitted 
to return to Ireland. The rights of Gerald 
Fitzmaurice, lord Kerry, w'ere, about this time, 
preserved by the singular fidelity of a female, 
which exhibits, in a striking point of view', the 
sacred light in which the tie of fosterage was 
held by the native Irish. Three lords of this 
name had died within two months of each other. 


SIR ANTHONY ST. LEGEll. 


163 


Gerald, the next heir, who was now in his fif¬ 
tieth year, having been for a long period in the 
service of the emperor, was at this time in Italy, 
and another branch of the family seized the op¬ 
portunity of his absence to take possession of 
the valuable territory of Lixnaw. But his un¬ 
just design was defeated by the zeal and cou¬ 
rage of Joan Harman, who had nursed the late 
lord. Though now nearly eighty years of age, 
she, with her daughter, sailed from Dingle for 
France, from whence she proceeded by land to 
Milan, where she found the rightful heir, and 
having delivered her message, the faithful do¬ 
mestic almost immediately expired. Lord Ker¬ 
ry returned to Ireland forthwith, and after a 
contest of two years with the usurper, reco¬ 
vered his estate. 

When all the necessary preliminaries were 
arranged, the pliant St. Leger was again sent 
over to Ireland, to subvert that form of worship 
which he had so lately established. Primate 
Dowdall was armed with authority to deprive 
archbishop Browne and all the married clergy ; 
but most of these fled from the approaching 


164 


BISHOP BALE. 


storm, and tlieir benefices were immediately 
filled by ecclesiastics devoted to the faith of 
Rome. Bale, bishop of Ossory, had become 
particularly obnoxious by his zeal against Po¬ 
pery. He frequently preached to the people at 
the market cross of Kilkenny, and so boldly 
assailed the Romish tenets, that upon one oc¬ 
casion it nearly cost him his life; a mob head¬ 
ed by some priests having followed him to his 
house of Bishop’s-court, and murdered five of 
his domestics before his face. The bishop suc¬ 
ceeded, however, in shutting the iron gate, and 
defended it with the assistance of the remainder 
of his servants, till the mayor arrived to his 
rescue with a body of four hundred men. On 
the death of king Edward, the priests proposed 
that a solemn mass should be celebrated for the 
repose of his soul. Bale offered to preach a ser¬ 
mon on the occasion ; but this not satisfying the 
priests, “ my troth,” said the bishop, then 
you must go and seek out some other chaplain, 
for I am no mass-monger—for, of all occupa¬ 
tions, methinks it is the most foolish. For 
there standeth the priest disguised like one that 


BISHOP BALE. 


165 


would show some juggling play, and turning his 
back to the people, he telleth a tale to the 
wall, in a foreign language.” When the storm 
of persecution began to rise in Mary’s reign, he 
resolved to fly to Scotland; but his troubles 
were not yet at an end. The captain of a Fle¬ 
mish man of war entered the ship in which he 
was about to sail from Dublin, seized the bishop, 
and plundered him of his money, books, and 
clothes, and after arriving in Holland, he treated 
him with great cruelty for several weeks, to 
compel him to pay a large ransom. Being, at 
length, liberated, he retired to Basle in Swit¬ 
zerland, where he found sincere friends in Me- 
lancthon, Pomeranus, and others of the Re¬ 
formers, and here he resided till the accession 
of Elizabeth, when he returned to England ; 
but not wishing to resume his bishoprick, he 
was promoted to a prebend in the cathedral of 
Canterbury. 

Archbishop Browne being replaced in the 
see of Dublin by doctor Hugh Curwen, while 
all the other sees Were filled with zealous Ro¬ 
manists, primate Dowdall ordered a jubilee to 


166 THU REFORMATION SUPPRESSED. 

be observed throughout the kingdom, to return 
thanks to God for the success of his ^labours ; 
and on the 1st of June, 1556, the earl of Sussex 
who had succeeded St. Leger in the viceroyalty, 
called a parliament for the purpose of repealing 
all the acts of the late kings Henry and Edward 
relating to religion. But before the delibera¬ 
tions commenced, a bull was received by the 
lord deputy from cardinal Pole, the pope’s le¬ 
gate, for the reconciliation of the kingdoms of 
England and Ireland to the holy see. The bull 
was read by the lord chancellor, kneeling; the 
houses of lords and commons remaining in the 
same humble posture, in token of reverence and 
contrition. After the absolution was pro¬ 
nounced, the whole assembly repaired to the 
cathedral church, where a Te Deurn was so¬ 
lemnly chaunted, for the restoration of the 
kingdom to the unity of the church. The par¬ 
liament now proceeded with zeal and alacrity 
to restore all matters connected with the church 
to their ancient footing, and revive all the an¬ 
cient statutes for the suppression of heresy. 
They also adopted various regulations connected 


NEW COUNTIES. 


167 


with the civil government of the realm. An act 
was passed for the expulsion of the Scottish 
islanders, whose inroads had lately become 
very frequent and alarming. A commission 
was appointed for dividing all the waste lands 
into counties and hundreds. The earl of Sus¬ 
sex was empowered to grant leases of the for¬ 
feited lands in the districts of Leix and Otfaley, 
the former of which was named the Queen’s- 
county, and its chief town, Maryborough, in 
honour of the sovereign; and the latter, the 
King’s-county, its principal fort being called 
Philipstown, in honour of Philip, king of 
Spain, who had lately espoused queen Mary. 

But acts of parliament were found insufficient 
to suppress the fierce commotions which raged 
at this time in almost every quarter of the king¬ 
dom. An insurrection of the ejected inhabi-p 
tants of the newly-formed counties in Leinster, 
to recover those lands of which they conceived 
themselves to have been unjustly deprived, is 
stated to have been punished with a barbarous 
severity. For some time the neighbourhood of 
Dublin was devastated by a horde of free- 


168 MURDER OF LORD DUNGANNON. 

hooters, one hundred and forty of whom having 
taken refuge in the castle of Powerscourt, were 
compelled, after an obstinate defence, to sur¬ 
render to Sir George Stanley, who ordered se¬ 
venty-four of them to be instantly hanged. In 
July 1546, the earl of Sussex marched to the 
relief of Carrickfergus, Avhich for several months 
had been besieged by the Scots under James 
Mac Donnell. The deputy was accompanied 
in this expedition by the earls of Kildare and 
Ormond, with Sir Henry Sidney, who became 
afterwards so celebrated in the atfairs of Ireland. 
On the 18th the Scots were compelled to raise 
the siege after a battle in which they were to¬ 
tally discomfited, Mac Donnell himself having 
fallen by the hands of Sir Henry Sidney. 

These operations for repelling the inroads of 
the foreigners had for some time diverted the 
attention of the lord deputy from the lawless 
proceedings of John O’Neill, who still conti¬ 
nued to spread desolation through a great por¬ 
tion of the northern province. A stratagem of 
some of his followers had delivered him from 
his illegitimate brother and rival the baron of 


o’neill and o’donnel. 


169 


Dungannon, that unhappy lord having been 
assassinated while rushing forth from his castle 
to quell a tumult which had been purposedly 
raised in its neighbourhood. The old earl of 
Tyrone dying sooh after, John assumed all 
the dignity of the rightful O’Neill, in defiance 
of the late Lord Dungannon’s sons, and sum¬ 
moning to his standard the Maguires, Magen- 
nises, O’Reillys, O’JIanlons, O’Cahans, O’Ha- 
gans, O’Quins, Mac Donnells, Mac Cartans 
and Mac Kennas, as his vassals, he speedily 
formed an army of four thousand foot and a 
thousand horse, with which he commenced an 
I expedition against O’DonUel, the chieftain of 
Tyrconnel, who had refused to submit to his 
authority. 

Dissensions had for some time existed in the 
family of this chief, who had been detained in 
prison for two years by his unnatural son 
Calvagh, while Hugh, another son, joining 
O’Neill, had pressed him to undertake this ex¬ 
pedition, which, if successful, must have ended 
in the ruin of his own family. Having entered 
Tyrconnel, O’Neill pitched his camp between 


170 


SURPRIZE AND DEFEAT OF 


two rivers, and denounced vengeance against 
all who should resist him ; and when informed 
that the inhabitants were secreting their valua¬ 
ble effects, and driving their cattle into the 
mountains ; Let them,” exclaimed the haughty 
chief, drive our prey into the midst of 
Leinster, or let them hide it in the South, we 
shall pursue it to the remotest quarter of the 
island. No power shall protect our enemies, 
or stop the progress of the prince and sovereign 
of Ulster,” 

The common danger had now reconciled the 
old chieftain of Tyrconnel and his son Calvagh, 
who resolved on making a vigorous defence.— 
On the latter devolved the command of their 
feeble force, which the sage advice of the 
father enabled him to conduct with success.— 

Do not,” said Tyrconnel to his son, attempt 
with our inferior numbers, to meet the enemy 
in the held. The camp of O’Neill bears a for¬ 
midable aspect; but what though it be provid¬ 
ed with stores of every kind, and every luxury 
be exposed to sale as in a regular market, yet 
the state and magnificence of the enemy may 


171 


JOHN o’nEILL* 

be greater than his precaution—attack liis 
camp by night, and one sudden and vigorous 
etfort may at once disperse our enemies, and 
free our country.” 

Calvagh made the necessary preparations for 
carrying this council into instant etfect. Two 
valiant youths otfered themselves to the perilous 
task of entering the enemy’s camp at the closi? 
of day to spy out their situation. As had been 
anticipated, they found there so little vigilance 
that they passed the guards, and mixing with 
the tumultuous soldiers, made their observa¬ 
tions unnoticed. An immense light, emitted 
from rushes twisted together to the thickness 
of a man’s waist, and dipped in grease, served 
to render O’Neill’s tent conspicuous ; and here 
the chieftain lay surrounded by sixty of his 
gallowglasses carrying the battle-axe, and an 
equal number of Scots armed with sword and 
target. So unsuspicious were the soldiers of 
O’Neill, that they even invited the emissaries 
of Tyrconnel to share their repast; but the lat¬ 
ter knew that according to the custom of those 
days, if they had accepted this hospitality, it 


172 


DEATH OF 


would have formed a tie between them and thefr 
adversaries, the violation of which would have 
subjected them to the foulest disgrace. They 
accordingly declined the courtesy, and hasten¬ 
ing to their comrades, related what they had 
seen, and inflamed them with ardour to sur¬ 
prise the enemy. Calvagh O’Donnel instantly 
formed his little army into a compact body, 
burst into the hostile camp, and spreading 
slaughter and confusion amongst its panic 
stricken defenders, forced his way to O’Neill’s 
tent. The chief, alarmed at the tumult, sud¬ 
denly started up, and finding tliat his guards 
had abandoned him, saved himself by a preci¬ 
pitate flight. Accompanied only by the tw'o 
sons of the revolted Hugh O’Doimel, he swam 
across a river, and with difficulty reached a 
place of safety, while his army dispersing on 
all sides, the troops of Tyrconnel were left in 
possession of a cheaply purchased victory.— 
Among the victims of this rout was O’Cahan, 
the chieftain whose high office it was to throw 
a shoe over the head of the O’Neill after his 
inauguration, and who bore the name of Cuina- 


O’CAHAN. 173 

galj which means the antagonist of the stran¬ 
gers.’ He accompanied John O’Neill at the 
head of a large body of Viis followers in their 
expedition into Tyrconnel : but on the retreat 
being abandoned by his forces near Loch-Swil- 
len, and travelling without escort, he fell under 
the hands of his enemies near his own princely 
residence of Limavady, a delightful spot on the 
banks of the Roe. The last chieftain of this 
family had his castle demolished, and his estates 
forfeited in the reign of James I. for his con¬ 
nexion with O’Neill and O’Donnel, in their 
treasonable practices. The duchess of Buck¬ 
ingham in the following reign, passing by Lirri- 
avady, paid a visit to the widow of the unfor¬ 
tunate O’Cahan, whom she found amid the 
ruins of her once splendid residence ; the 
broken casements stuffed with straw, sitting on 
her bent hams before a miserable fire of branch¬ 
es, and wrapped in a blanket* Such are the 
dreadful consequences of civil war, which, 
besides the miseries it inflicts on the passing 
generation, often extends its ravages to the 
remotest posterity. 

k2 


174 


COMMOTIONS IN MUNSTER. 


Serious commotions prevailed at this period 
both in Connaught and Munster. The Scotch 
adventurers having lost their employment in the 
North by O’Neill’s overthrow, engaged in the 
service of some disaffected Western chieftains, 
but the earl of Clanrickard attacked and nearly 
exterminated these invaders. In X558, the 
lord deputy Sussex, found it necessary to 
march into Limerick to quell violent dissen¬ 
sions Avhich had for some time existed in the 
O’Brien family. Donogh, who had succeeded 
to the earldom of Thomond in 1552, immedi- 
ately became involved in hostilities with his 
brother, Sir Daniel O’Brien, by whom he was 
eventually slain. Sir Daniel now assumed the 
sovereignty of Thomond by the ancient Irish 
law of tanistry,' in contempt of that renuncia¬ 
tion of his feudal rights which had been made 
by Murrough O’Brien in the reign of Henry 
VIII. To punish this usurpation Sussex en¬ 
tered Thomond with a considerable force, took 
several castles, proclaimed Daniel O’Brien a 
traitor, and invested Connor, the son of the late 
earl, with all his rights. The young earl 


STATE OF THE PROTESTANTS. 


175 


attended the deputy to Limerick, where, in the 
cathedral church, with all his freeholders, he 
renounced the title of O’Brien, and swore alle¬ 
giance to King Philip and Queen Mary.— 
‘^Thus,” say the Irish annalists, he gave up 
the dignity of Dalgais, and accepted the title of 
earl, to the astonishment and indignation of all 
the descendant's of Heber and Heremon.” 

During the latter years of Mary’s reign 
great progress had been made in restoring the 
Roman Catholic worship to its ancient splen¬ 
dour; but happily, while the Protestants of 
England were suffering the most cruel perse¬ 
cutions, and many of both sexes, high in'public 
estimation for their learning and piety, prefer¬ 
red the most horrible of deaths to the abandon¬ 
ment of their creed, in Ireland not a single 
individual was molested on account of his reli¬ 
gious opinions during the whole of this san¬ 
guinary period ; nay, many English Protestants 
found a secure asylum in this country during 
the whole of Mary’s reign, enjoying in private 
the exercise of the worship which they pre¬ 
ferred, through the ministration of the Rev. 


176 


STORY OF DEAN COLF. 


Thomas Jones, a Welsh clergyman, w ho, in the 
succeeding reign, was appointed domestic chap¬ 
lain to the lord lieutenant. 

Whether this forbearance is to be attributed 
to the more important occupations of the 
English Council, or to the little progress which 
the Reformation had made in Ireland, it is 
more than probable that it would have been 
quickly laid aside, had the sanguinary reign 
of Mary been permitted to continue. This 
opinion receives strong confirmation from 
a story which I shall now tell you, on the 
authority of the famous archbishop Usher, the 
first earl of Cork, and Sir James Ware, the 
celebrated Irish antiquarian. They tell us, 
that Queen Mary, towards the close of her 
reign, had determined to extend her persecu¬ 
tion of the Protestants to Ireland, and that she 
signed a commission empowering Sussex, the 
lord deputy, to carry her design into effect. 
This commission was entrusted to Doctor Cole, 
the dean of St. Paul’s, to be conveyed by him 
to Dublin, who, having arrived at Chester, in 
his journey, stopped at an inn, where he was 


STORY OF DEAN COLE. 


177 


soon waited on bj the mayor, a zealous 
Romanist. Cole, while conversing with the 
magistrate, in the exuberance of his zeal, took 
out of his cloak-bag a leathern box, which he 
said contained a commission to lash the heretics 
of Ireland. His hostess who happened to be a 
protestant, having a brother named John 
Edmonds resident in Dublin, who also pro¬ 
fessed the same creed, overheard the conversa¬ 
tion, and while the doctor was complimenting 
the mayor down stairs, she seized the oppor¬ 
tunity to open the box, and taking the commis¬ 
sion out, she put in its place a pack of cards 
with the knave of clubs uppermost. On re¬ 
turning to his apartment Cole put up his box, 
without suspecting the trick, and on the next 
day sailed for Dublin, where he arrived on the 
17tb of October, 1558. He repaired directly 
to the castle, and presented the box to the lord 
deputy in full council, who ordered the secre¬ 
tary to read her majesty’s commission; but 
when the box was opened it was found to 
contain nothing but a pack of cards. The 
astonishment of the council at this strange 


178 


STOKY OF DEAN COLE. 


metamorphosis was soon turned into amusement 
at the learned doctor’s expense, who vehement¬ 
ly protesting that he had actually received the 
commission, whatever had become of it, was 
desired by the deputy to return for another, 
and that in the meantime he and the council 
would shuffle the cards. Cole did as he was 
commanded, and procured another commission ; 
but being detained for some days by foul 
weather, queen Mary died before he sailed, 
and thus was the sanguinary project frustrated. 
The Protestants considered this occurrence as a 
singular interposition of Providence ; and when 
lord Sussex related the story to queen Eliza¬ 
beth, we are told that she-sent for Elizabeth 
Edmonds, the instrument of their preservation, 
and settled upon her forty pounds a year for 
life. 


ELIZABETH. 


179 


CHAPTER Vll. 


Accession of Elizabeth—John O’Neill assumes 
the Sovereignty of Ulster—His interview with 
Sir Henry Sidney—Restoration of the Re¬ 
formed IVorshij)—Primate JLoftiis — Creagh^ 
the titular Primate — Discontents — Insurrec¬ 
tion in Ulster—John O’Neill in London — 
O’Neill restored to favour—The Geraldines 
and Butlers—Battle of Affane—Sir Henry 
Sidfiey, Lord Deputy—Mac Arthy More — 
Hostile proceedings of O’Neill—Battle of 
Derry—Destruction of Armagh—Battle of 
Dundalk—John O’Neill assassinated—Feuds 
in the South—Desmond arrested and sent to 
the Tower of London — Vigorous conduct of 
Sir Henry Sidney—A Parliament — Attaind¬ 
er of John O’Neill. 

We have now arrived at a reign which is 
justly considered one of the most memorable in 



180 


ELIZABETH. 


English history, and it should be studied with 
deep attention by my young readers, because of 
the important influence it has had on the subse¬ 
quent affairs of this country. Since the acces¬ 
sion of the house of Tudor to the throne of 
England great effcrts had been made to crush 
the power of the Irish chieftains and their allies 
of the English race, but it was reserved for the 
last sovereign of that family, after a long and 
sanguinary struggle, to give the mortal blow to 
the feudal system in Ireland, and permanence 
to that change in the established mode of 
worship which had been thrice altered in the 
three preceding reigns. 

Elizabeth, the only surviving child of King 
Henry VIII. ascended the throne of England 
on the 17th of Noveniber, 1558. She was then 
in her twenty-fifth year, and had in the former 
part of her life passed through vicissitudes well 
calculated to mature a judgment naturally 
strong and discriminating; Her sufferings 
during the reign of her sister Mary had en¬ 
deared her to the majority of the nation, and 
the first act of her administration in appointing 


ELIZABETH. 


181 


Sir William Cecil (afterwards lord Burleigh) to 
the office of principal Secretary of State, 
evinced the new queen’s disposition to re-es¬ 
tablish the Reformed worship, which w as soon 
after effectually accomplished in England.— 
That great statesman, who had first engaged the 
attention of Henry* VIII. by a famous Latin 
dispute which he held, when a very young man, 
with two Irish priests who attended Con 
O’Neill to the court of England, filled the 
office of Secretary of State under the govern¬ 
ment of Edward VI.; and though not employed 
during the reign of Mary, his prudence pre¬ 
served him from personal danger. To his wise 
and vigorous counsels, (under divine Provi¬ 
dence) was Elizabeth afterwards indebted for 
the singular success which crowned her long 
and eventful reign, surrounded as she was by 
perils both of a foreign and domestic nature, 
such as have been rarely surpassed in the history 
of sovereigns. 

Ireland was at this period in a state of com¬ 
parative tranquillity, though considerable ap¬ 
prehensions were entertained from the move- 

z. 


182 


o’neill’s conference avitii 


ments of John O’Neill, who had again collected 
his forces after his precipitate flight from Tjr- 
connel. lie now assumed the sovereignty of 
all Ulster, a claim which was generally acknow¬ 
ledged by his countrymen, to whom he had 
recommended himself by his bravery, munifi¬ 
cence, and hospitality, qualities which have 
been sufficient in all ages to secure the good 
opinion of the Irish. Ilis cellars, we are told, 
never contained less than two hundred tuns of 
wine or usquebaugh, of which he was himself 
in the habit of drinking to such excess, that 
frequently when intoxicated, his attendants 
placed him chin-deep in a pit, casting earth 
around him, and in this clay-bath he remained 
until the velocity of his blood had abated. He 
still professed a peaceable disposition to the 
English croAvn, but his assuming the chieftainry 
of Tyrone, was considered an act of defiance 
to the government, which had created his father 
an earl, and vested him with his lands by Eng¬ 
lish tenure, limiting the succession to his brother 
Matthew and his issue : and Sir Henry Sidney, 
who administered the government in the absence 


sill HENRY SIDNEY. 


183 


of the earl of Sussex, now in England, marching 
northwards by advice of the council, in Janu¬ 
ary 1559, to repress his arrogance, "issued a 
summons commanding the chieftain to attend 
him at Dundalk, to explain his conduct, and 
give security for his loyalty. But notwithstand¬ 
ing the apparent rudeness and simplicity of his 
manners, John O’Neill was circumspect and 
acute, and he knew that his authority over his 
followers depended on the opinion which they 
entertained of his dignity and power. He 
therefore declined attending the deputy at his 
quarters, which might be construed into an ac¬ 
knowledgment of his superiority; but he at 
the same time expressed in the fullest manner 
his duty to the queen, and reverence for her go¬ 
vernor; and requested that Sir Henry Sidney 
would honor him with a visit, and become 
sponsor to his child. 

With this request the deputy deemed it po¬ 
litic, under present circumstances, to comply ; 
and after partaking of O’Neill’s hospitality, he 
proposed that they shonld enter upon the dis¬ 
cussion of the chief object of his visit. He 


184 


o’neill’s conference with 


found the chieftain fully prepared to defend his 
conduct. I have,” said O’Neill, “ opposed 
the succession of Matthew’s children to the 
sovereignty of Tyrone, because it is well known 
that this Matthew, whom Henry VIII. incau¬ 
tiously created baron of Dungannon, was the 
offspring of a mean woman of Dundalk, the 
wife of a smith, and for sixteen years reputed 
to be his son, until earl Con, my father, accept¬ 
ed him as his child, on the allegation of an 
adulteress, and with a shameful partiality pre¬ 
ferred him to his legitimate issue. If I were to 
resign my pretensions in favor of any son of such 
a father,, one hundred persons of the name of 
O’Neill would be ready to start up, and assert 
the honor of their family against the usurpation 
of a spurious race. The letters patent (he 
added) on which this claim is founded, are in 
effect vain and frivolous, for earl Con, by the 
ancient institutions of the country, could claim 
no right in Tyrone, but during his own life, 
nor could he surrender his tenure without the 
consent of all the lords and inhabitants of that 
district, which had not known the English law. 


SIR HENRY SIDNEY. 


185 


nor ever been reduced to an English county. 
Were it even admitted (he continued) that the 
inheritance should descend in succession to the 
rightful heir, I am the rightful heir as eldest of 
the legitimate sons of Con. But my pre-emi¬ 
nence is derived from an origin still more glo- 
rious—from the free choice of my countrymen, 
who, on my father’s death, elected me their 
chief, as the best and bravest of my family ; 
an election ever practised in this country,with¬ 
out any interference of the crown of England.” 

The deputy was astonished at the firmness of 
the chieftain, and being unprepared to combat 
his reasoning, he, by the advice of his coun¬ 
sellors, told O’Neill, that the points which he 
had stated were of too great importance for his 
decision, and that they must be communicated 
to the queen ; but he advised him, in the mean 
time, to practice a peaceable and dutiful de¬ 
meanour, and that he might be assured of re¬ 
ceiving justice from his sovereign. The chief¬ 
tain promised to follow his counsel, and the 
conference broke up with the greatest apparent 
cordiality. 


186 


ESTABLISHMENT OF 


Towards the close of this year, the earl of 
Sussex returned to Ireland, to resume the office 
of chief governor, with the queen’s special in¬ 
structions for restoring the Reformed worship. 
This nobleman, though nearly related to Eliza¬ 
beth, by her mother Anne Boleyn, had been 
much in the confidence of her sister Mary, and 
some doubts were entertained of his sincere 
attachment to Protestant principles; yet he 
now showed no reluctance to overthrow what 
he had assisted in re-establishing during the late 
reign. The death of primate Dowdall in the 
same year with his royal patron queen Mary, 
having removed a formidable obstacle to this 
important undertaking, the deputy assembled a 
parliament on the 11th of January, 1560, for 
effecting those alterations in ecclesiastical affairs 
which had already been accomplished in Eng¬ 
land ; and, astonishing to tell, in a few weeks, 
notwithstanding the violent hostilities which 
had so long prevailed between the two churches, 
the whole ecclesiastical system of queen Mary 
was entirely reversed. Of nineteen Irish pre¬ 
lates who attended this parliament, only Walsh 


THE REFORMATION. 


187 


bishop of Meath, and Leverous bishop of Kil¬ 
dare, opposed the restoration of the queen’s 
supremacy over the church, the enforcement of 
the use of the Book of Common Prayer, and 
the repeal of the laws against heretics, which 
had been passed in the late reign, the act for 
this purpose declaring that no opinion should 
be accounted heresy, but those which could be 
proved such, on the authority of the canonical 
Scriptures. 

But notwithstanding the pliant conduct of 
the bishops, the inferior clergy inveighed loudly 
against the heretical queen and her impious 
ministers. Many of the former quitted their 
parishes,and there not being a sufficient number 
of reformed ministers to fill their places, the 
churches fell to ruin, and the people were for 
some time left without any religious instruction. 
The primacy, which had continued vacant for 
nearly four years, was at length filled up in 
1562, by the appointment of Doctor Adam 
Loftus, chaplain to the earl of Sussex, to the 
archbishopric of Armagh. But the pope, re¬ 
solved to keep up an uninterrupted succession 


188 


AUCMBISllOP CREAgH* 


of Roman Catholic primates In Ireland, had 
previously nominated Doctor Richard Creagh 
to this high dignity. 

Some historians inform us, that the life of 
this prelate was exposed to very extraordinary 
vicissitudes. He was the son of a respectable 
iTierchant in Limerick, and had in his youth 
acquired an ardent thirst for literature and 
Scriptural kno-wledge. But he afterwards, 
probably in compliance with the will of his 
father, engaged im mercantile pursuits which 
led him to make frequent voyages to Spain. 
When about to return from one of these expe¬ 
ditions to his native country, he deemed it his 
duty to repair to church, to seek the divine 
blessing on his undertaking : and while thus 
piously engaged, the ship sailed without him. 
This was a great mortification to young Creagh, 
as he had considerable property on board : but 
he afterwards had just cause of gratitude to 
heaven for the disappointment, when he learned 
that the vessel and all on board had perished at 
sea. Th is providential deliverance so deeply 
affected him, that he determined to devote the 


DISCONTENTS ABOUT RELIGION. 


189 


remnant of his life to literature and theology. 
He kept a school for some time in Limerick, 
and afterwards repaired to Rome, where he en¬ 
tered the church, and became so distinguished by 
his writings, that the pope nominated him suc¬ 
cessor to archbishop Wauchop in the primacy of 
Ireland. His zeal for the Roman Catholic 
cause, however, soon rendered him obnoxious 
to the government; and, for what cause we are 
not informed, he was imprisoned for five weeks 
in the tower of London. It is stated by an 
Irish author, that he was again confined in the 
same place in 1585, and that during his impri¬ 
sonment, he was falsely accused by the daughter 
of his keeper, of attempting to violate her per¬ 
son ; but that when the girl appeared to give 
her testimony at his trial, she was seized with 
remorse, and acknowledged her perfidy. The 
archbishop was consequently honourably ac¬ 
quitted, but he died in the Tower a few days 
after. 

The re-establishment of the Reformed church 
began now to spread universal discontent 
throughout the country, which was secretly 

L 3 


190 


discontents about religion. 


encouraged by the pope and the king of Spain ; 
while unhappily, no wise measures were adopt¬ 
ed for convincing the people of the superior 
purity of that creed which they were called on 
to embrace. Every person who neglected to 
attend the church service on Sunday, was liable 
to a fine; while in many places the people were 
as ignorant of the English language, as of that 
in which the mass was celebrated by their for¬ 
mer pastors. No steps were taken to send 
ministers among them, qualified to address them 
in their native tongue, and thus they were ge¬ 
nerally left without any religious worship or 
instruction. It is not matter of wonder that 
men thus circumstanced should be inclined to 
listen to any plan for the subversion of the 
Reformed creed, of the true nature of which 
they were left in total ignorance, and which 
they were taught by those spiritual guides in 
whom they placed unbounded confidence, to 
consider as detestable and impious. 

The turbulent chieftain of Tyrone was now 
looked up to by the discontented party as their 
natural leader, and while his countrymen re- 

L 3 


o'neill’s outrages. 


191 


minded him of the ancient glories of his house, 
his vanity was appealed to by the emissaries of 
Rome and Spain, as the chosen champion of the 
church. Nor was John O’Neill unwilling to 
listen to language which flattered his ambition, 
while it fully coincided with the invincible an¬ 
tipathy to the English nation which he inhe¬ 
rited from his ancestors, and his determined 
hostility to the late changes in ecclesiastical 
affairs. As his father Con was said to have 
pronounced a curse on all his posterity, in case 
they should learn to speak English, sow wheat, 
or build houses; so John, as an equal proof of 
his aversion to the detested race, styled a cas¬ 
tle which he built in an island of Lough Neagh, 
Fuaith-na-gailV*—-^^ The abomination of the 
strangers.’’ He hanged up one of his followers 
on suspicion of being a spy for the government, 
and another for having so far degenerated from 
his native manners as to feed on English bis¬ 
cuit. In the year 1560 he again rushed to 
arms, ravaged the pale with fire and sword, 
and then returning to Ulster, he suddenly 
poured his forces into Tyrconnel, where he 


192 


o’neill’s visit to 


surprised his old enemy Calvagh O’Donnel, 
upon whom he glutted his revenge by throwing 
him into chains, and carrying otFhis wife, whom 
he afterwards kept as his concubine. 

To repress these enormities the earl of Sus¬ 
sex marched from Dublin, in July 1561, at the 
head of a considerable force, on whose approach 
many of O’Neill’s adherents began to desert 
his standard. The deputy prudently seized 
the moment for averting hostilities by negocia- 
tion, and through the mediation of his kinsman, 
the earl of Kildare, the Ulster chieftain agreed 
to repair to London, and submit his cause to 
the queen’s decision. He then attended lord 
Sussex to Dublin, and was entertained by the 
deputy for some time; but he delayed his pro¬ 
mised visit to the English court until it was 
hinted to him that a design was formed to seize 
his person, and send him to London as a pri¬ 
soner. 

Finding that any further attempt at evasion 
would be useless, O’Neill resolved to present 
himself to the queen not in the character of a 
suppliant, but as an independent sovereign. He 


'QUEEN ELIZABETH. 


193 


took his departure in 1562 with a magnificent 
train of followers, and soon after appeared in 
the English metropolis, attended by a nume¬ 
rous guard of gallowglasses arrayed in the 
richest habiliments of their country. Each 
man carried a battle-axe : his head was bare, 
his hair flowing on his shoulders; his linen 
vest, with long and open sleevs, was dyed with 
saffron, and the whole was surcharged with 
short military harness. The people of London 
were astonished at a spectacle which seemed 
rather like a procession of the inhabitants of 
some distant quarter of the globe, than those of 
a sister island. The queen received the chief¬ 
tain with great apparent condescension ; lis¬ 
tened to the pathetic narrative of the wrongs 
he had endured, which he urged as a plea for 
his excesses, and expressed implicit confidence 
in his promises of future loyalty. Of this she 
aftewards gave the strongest proof by making 
him several valuable presents, lending him two 
thousand five hundred pounds, and assuring 
him of her protection. 

The followers of O’Neill considered his gra- 


194 COMMOTIONS IN THE PROVINCES. 

cious reception by Elizabeth as an acknowledg¬ 
ment of his dignity, and the successful result of 
his mission as the happy termination of a con¬ 
test between two rival potentates ; and for some 
time after his return the Ulster chieftain acted 
as a faithful ally of the queen of England. The 
Ilebridian Scots still continuing their ravages 
in the North of Ireland, he made a vigorous 
attack upon them, slew M'^Connell, their leader, 
and ultimately expelled them from the country. 
He still, however, continued to exercise his 
despotic authority over the neighbouring chief¬ 
tains ; but when Maguire, lord of Fermanagh, 
Magennis, and other Irish lords complained 
of violence, through the lord deputy Sussex, 
Elizabeth laconically replied, Be not dismayed; 
tell my friends, if he rebel, it will turn to their 
advantage—there will be estates for them that 
want; from me he can expect no further favor.” 
Enraged at this remonstrance against him at the 
British court, O’Neill burst impetuously into 
Fermanagh, where he committed horrible de¬ 
vastations, and drove Maguire from bis terri¬ 
tories. 


TEUDS BETWEEN DESMOND AND ORMOND. 193 

During these commotions in Ulster, violent 
feuds had also broken out between the great 
lords of the South. Gerald earl of Desmond, 
having obtained possession of his title and 
estate in despite of the claims of his elder bro¬ 
ther Thomas, whom his father had disinherited, 
soon began to display all the ambition of his 
most turbulent ancestors by encroaching on the 
rights and possessions of his neighbours, and 
levying those Irish exactions which were for¬ 
bidden by law on all persons within the sphere 
of his authority. In the course of these out¬ 
rageous proceedings, he became involved in liti¬ 
gation with Thomas earl of Ormond, and at¬ 
tempted to get possession of some of his lands 
by arms. Ormond collected his forces to 
repel this aggression, and the two parties 
met on the 1st of February, 1564, at Alfane in 
the county of Waterford, when a desperate 
conflict ensued, in which Desmond was defeated 
with the loss of three hundred men. The earl 
himself was wounded, and taken prisoner; and 
as the Ormondians conveyed him stretched out 
on a bier from the field, one of them asked in a 


196 SIR HENRY SIDNEY LORD DEPUTY. 

tone of triumph, Where now is the great lord 
of Desmond ?” Where,” replied the earl 
with characteristic spirit, but in his proper 
place, still upon the necks of the Butlers.” The 
two earls went soon after into England to sub¬ 
mit their disputes to the queen, who effected 
a reconciliation between them ; Desmond pro¬ 
mising that he would support the execution of 
the queen’s laws within his jurisdiction, and 
suppress all Irish customs contrary to good 
order and civility ; and as to the furtherance of 
religion in Munster, having no knowledge in 
learning^ and being ignorant oj what was to be 
done in that behalf, he would aid and maintain 
whatever should be appointed by commission¬ 
ers nominated for that purpose. What a proof 
do the characters of O’Neill and Desmond, the 
two principal chieftains of Ulster and Munster, 
afford us of the low state of civilization at that 
period in Ireland. 

In the meantime the earl of Sussex had been 
recalled to fill the office of lord chamberlain of 
England, and in 1565 Sir Henry Sidney was 
appointed to the office of viceroy of Ireland, a 


o’neili/s insurrection. 


197 


station for which he was peculiarly fitted as 
much by his personal qualities as by his long 
acquaintance with the country. Like his pre¬ 
decessor in office, he was allied to the royal 
family of England, and had been the insepara¬ 
ble companion of king Edward VI. who kept 
him in close attendance during his long decline, 
and sealed his friendship by breathing his last 
sigh in his arms. Nor was he less distinguish¬ 
ed as being the father of the renowed Sir Phi¬ 
lip Sidney, who fell at the battle of Zutphen, 
at once the glory of his age and nation. 

Much benefit was expected from the wisdom 
and vigour of the new chief-governor, and 
to assist him the office of lord president of 
Munster was created, to which Sir William St. 
Leger was appointed. Several of the malcon¬ 
tents in this province speedily notified their 
submission, and Mac Carthy More went to 
London, where having surrendered his estate 
to queen Elizabeth, it was regranted by letters 
patent with the title of the earl of Clancare. 
But John O’Neill was still the grand object of 
the vigilance of government. To keep him in 


198 


BATTLE OF DERRY. 


awe the deputy placed a strong garrison in 
Derry, under the command of Colonel Ran¬ 
dolph, an experienced English officer. Not 
less enraged at this event as a check to his in- 
tended enterprizes, than as intimating a suspi¬ 
cion of his disloyalty, the northern chieftain 
gave vent to his indignation in the most violent 
language ; and learning at the same time the 
elevation of Mac Arthy of Desmond to the 
English peerage, he proudly exclaimed to some 
English commissioners who were sent to treat 
with him. A precious earl! I keep a lacquey 
as worthy as he. But let him enjoy his new 
honor. It is not worthy of O’Neill. I have, 
indeed, made peace with the queen at her de¬ 
sire ; but I have not forgotten the royal dignity 
of my ancestors. Ulster was theirs, and shall 
be mine. With the sword they won it; with 
the sword I will maintain it.” 

.He instantly led his forces to the walls of 
Derry, and bade defiance to the governor. 
Randolph, with a chivalrous spirit accepted the 
challenge, sallied out, and defeated O’Neill 
with considerable slaughter, but lost his own 


EXPLOSION AT DERRY. 


199 


life ill the encounter. The chieftain com¬ 
plained of this as an infraction of his treaty 
with the queen, and solicited a conference with 
the viceroy at Dundalk that he might lay before 
him his grievances. Sir Henry Sidney agreed 
to this proposition, and attended at the place 
appointed; but in the meantime an accidental 
explosion of gunpowder destroyed the castle of 
Derry, and compelled the garrison to evacuate 
the town. The adherents of O’Neill attributed 
this event to the holy St. Columcille, who had 
thus taken vengeance of the sacrilegious pro- 
faners of his residence. An enormous wolf,” 
says an Irish historian, issued out of the 
woods, snatched up a burning brand in his 
teeth, and cast it into the church, which the 
heretics had converted into an arsenal.” The 
chieftain himself was so elated by this stupen¬ 
dous miracle in his behalf, that he disdained to 
hold any conference with the deputy ; set the 
English at defiance, and declared vengeance 
against all who should presume to dispute his 
title to the sovereignty of Ulster. 

Having collected fresh forces, he ruined se- 


200 BATTLE OF DUNDALK, AND 

veral castles on the borders of the Pale; and 
then to avenge himself on primate Loftus, who 
had given the government some intimation of 
his hostile intentions, he marched towards Ar¬ 
magh, and destroyed the city and cathedral. 
He now despatched emissaries into Munster and 
Connaught to invite Desmond and the Irish 
lords of those provinces to unite with him, and 
in all the dignity of a sovereign he sent his am¬ 
bassadors to the pope and the king of Spain to 
solicit their aid against the common enemy. 
But his career of conquest lasted not long ; for 
while besieging Dundalk, he was attacked by a 
body of the citizens of Dublin, under Sarsfield 
their mayor, who, aided by a sortie of the gar¬ 
rison, gave him a total defeat, and compelled 
him to raise the siege. 

Sir Henry Sidney now adopted the most pru¬ 
dent und vigorous measures to reduce this dan¬ 
gerous insurgent, the fame of whose exploits 
had reached the most remote quarters of the 
island, and was likely to throw the whole 
country into a flame. He reinstated O’Donnel, 
Maguire, and the other northern lords m ho had 


DEFEAT OF o’nEILL. 


201 


been dispossessed by O’Neill, in their respec¬ 
tive territories, thus firmly attaching them to 
the English interests, while he himself took his 
station on the borders of Ulster at the head of 
a considerable force. No assistance coming to 
him from any quarter, this unhappy victim of 
pride and ambition found himself entirely 
abandoned to his own resources ; and in a de¬ 
sultory warfare of a few months, more than 
three thousand five hundred of his followers 
were cut off. The remainder of his shattered 
forces, unable any longer to endure the com¬ 
plicated miseries of war and famine, deserted 
his standard; and the late mighty chieftain, 
now become a fugitive, without hopes or re- 
sources^ determined to cast himself at the feet 
of the lord deputy, and Implore his mercy. 

While preparing to execute this design, his 
secretary suggested that the English government 
was so provoked at his long continued opposi¬ 
tion, it probably would not receive him to terms, 
and that it would be more prudent for him to 
seek the protection of the Scotch, now encamped 
at Clan-hu-boy, under Alexander Oge, who. 


202 


ASSASSINATION OF 


however he might resent his former conduct in 
taking his brother Sorley-buy piisoner, was 
still as much as ever the enemy of the English. 
O’Neill was ready to embrace any counsel 
which was likely to save him from the disgrace 
of submitting to the lord deputy, and sending 
his prisoner Sorley-buy before him to explain 
his intentions, he set out for the Scottish camp, 
accompanied by his concubine the wife of 
O’Donnel, his secretary, and fifty horsemen. 

An English officer, named Piers, was at this 
time stationed in the neighbourhood to watch 
the motions of the northerns, and having dis¬ 
covered the object of O’Neill’s visit to the 
Scottish camp, he sought every opportunity of 
enflaming the resentment of Alexander Oge, 
its commander, against the man who had slain 
his uncle, James McConnell, the late Scotch 
general; and he succeeded so well, that he w'as 
permitted to form a plan of deep revenge.— 
O’Neill was invited to the camp with the 
warmest assurances of protection, and on his 
arrival he and his retinue were hospitably en¬ 
tertained in the commander’s tent. The ca- 


JOHN o’neill. 


203 


rousal proceeded for some time with apparent 
cordiality ; but at length the Scots grew captious 
and passionate. Mac Gillespie, a nephew of 
the late general McConnell, asked O’Neill’s 
secretary if he had not spread a report that his 
aunt had offered to marry the murderer of her 
husband. The secretary acknowledged the 
charge, adding, that the queen of Scots herself 
might be proud to match with O’Neill. Mac 
Gillespie gave him instantly the lie direct, upon 
which the chieftain espoused the quarrel of his 
secretary. A scene of terrible confusion now 
ensued, during which Alexander Oge marched 
in with a body of soldiers, and massacred 
O’Neill with his secretary, and nearly all his 
attendants. The mangled corpse of the chief¬ 
tain was carried to a neighbouring church yard, 
where wrapped in a kern’s old shirt, it was ig- 
nominiously buried; but it was taken up four 
days after, by Piers, who severed the gory head 
from the body, which he delivered pickled in 
a pipkin to the lord deputy, on the 21st of 
June, 1567, and it was immediately placed on 
the top of the castle of Dublin : Piers was re- 


204 


THE GERALDINES AND BUTLERS. 


warded for the part he took in this base trans¬ 
action, with a present of one thousand marks. 

Thus was terminated the insurrection of an 
ambitious chieftain, which had cost the crown 
of England near two millions of our money, 
and the lives of about ten thousand individuals. 
Sir Henry Sidney immediately marched to 
Tyrone, to compose the disorders of that dis¬ 
trict, and by the queen’s authority he nominated 
Tirlough Lynogh O’Neill, the grandson of 
that lord who had married into the Kildare 
family, successor to the chieftainry, and carried 
the son of the late lord as a hostage to the castle 
of Dublin. 

Fresh quarrels between the Geraldines and 
Butlers now called the lord deputy into the 
south.' He heard the complaints of the con¬ 
tending parties at Youghal, and reprimanded 
the earl of Desmond for the devastation he had 
committed on the lands of lord Ormond, and in 
various parts of the county of Cork, which Sir 
Henry Sidney describes in one of his letters, 
as the pleasantest country he had ever seen ; 
but most miserably wasted and uncultivated. 


DESMOND SENT TO THE TOWER. 


205 


the villages and churches burnt and ruined, the 
castles destroyed, and the bones of the mur¬ 
dered and starved inhabitants, scattered about 
the fields. Desmond felt so little concern 
for those devastations, that he told the deputy, 
who took him with him in his progress, that for 
one gallowglass which he then kept, he would 
maintain five, and that before mid-summer he 
would take the field with five thousand men. 
But Sidney, resolved to prevent this, carried 
him a prisoner to Limerick, and from thence to 
Dublin, from whence he soon after conveyed 
him to England, where, with his brother. Sir 
John of Desmond, he was committed to the 
Tower. « 

During the absence of the deputy, violent 
disorders burst forth in all the provinces. The 
O’Mores and O’Connors again became trouble¬ 
some in Leinster. In the north, Turlogh 
O’Neill, after killing in battle Alexander Oge, 
he murderer of the late chieftain, had united 
with the Scots to carry on a predatory war 
against his neighbours. In the south Sir Ed¬ 
mund Butler, brother to the earl of Ormond, 


M 


206 


ATTAINDER OF 


was carrying on fierce hostilities with the Ger¬ 
aldines of Munster, and in the same province, 
James Fitzmaurice, irritated at the imprisonment 
of Desmond hie kinsman, had taken up arms 
against all who were well affected to the go¬ 
vernment. Sidney, on his return, proceeded to 
the north, where Captain Piers had lately de¬ 
feated the Scots with the loss of two hundred 
men ; and after receiving the submission of 
Turlogh O’Neill at Carrickfergus, he assembled 
a parliament at Dublin, with the professed ob¬ 
jects of restraining the ancient customs and 
exactions, extending the intiuence of English 
law, and making the necessary provisions for 
the civil and ecclesiastical reformation of the 
kingdom. In this parliament the government 
met with violent opposition from the enemies 
of the Reformed religion, as well as from those 
who supported their party feuds by Irish exac¬ 
tions, and all who considered themselves neg¬ 
lected by the administration ; but after much 
violent altercation the subsidies were granted, 
some measures adopted for the promotion of 
religion and education; and a bill of attainder 


JOHN o’NEILL. 


^207 


was passed against the late John O’Neill, which 
vested his lands and those of his adherents for 
ever in the crown, and declared that whoever 
should assume the title of the O’Neill, should 
suffer all the penalties of high treason : a par¬ 
ticular provision, however, was made for Tui- 
logh Lynogh O’Neill and his followers. By 
this act more than half the lands In Ulster was 
vested in the queen and her successors. 


208 


VIEW 01‘ THK 


CHAPTER \ 111. 


Formation of new Counties—Insurrection of 
Sir Edmund Eutler—Sir Peter Carew — 
Battie of Kilkenny — Outrages of James 
Fitmaurice—Siege of Kilkenny — Siege of 
Cork—Sir John Perrot^ President of Mun¬ 
ster — Fitzmaurice’s Submission—Sir William 
Fitzwillicim^ hord-De^nity — Plantations in 
Ulster—Sir Thomas Smith—Walter Earl 
of Essex—Hostilities with Bryan O'Neill — 
Commotions in Leinster and Connaught — 
Escape of Desmond—Capture and Execution 
of Bryan O'Neill—Sir Henry Sidney, Lord 
Deputy—The Viceroy’s Progress—Sir Wil¬ 
liam Drury, President of Munster—Action 
with the Desmonians, near Tralee — Death of 
the Earl of Essex—Insurrection of the Mac- 
an-Earlas, in Connaught — Grana-Uille. 

In the year 1570 Elizabeth had been twelve 
years on the throne, and during that period a 


STATE OF IRELAND. 


209 


great field had been opened in Ireland for the 
extension of English law and civility, as it was 

_ f 

termed. The district of Annaly was formed 
into a county by the name of Longford ; the 
greater part of Ulster had become the property 
of the crown ; Connaught was divided into six 
counties—namely, Clare, Galway, Sligo, Lei¬ 
trim, Mayo, and Roscommon ; and all Irish 
chieftainries were abolished. Yet no change 
for the better was effected in the condition of 
the inhabitants. Each new colony entered the 
country with the most violent prejudices against 
the old inhabitants, both of Irish and English 
descent, while they were viewed by the latter 
with equal abhorrence, as aliens and intruders, 

I' 

by whom they were excluded from every office 
of trust and emolument. The petty tyrants of 
the soil, who were numerous in every quarter 
of the kingdom, opposed all attempts to intro¬ 
duce a system of liberty and equity—while, on 
the other hand, the partizans of Rome were 
with difficulty compelled to yield obedience to 
a sovereign, who had been lately excommuni¬ 
cated and consigned to perdition by the Pope, 


210 


SIR EDMUND BUTLER. 


whom they were taught to look upon as her 
spiritual sovereign. 

Various events now concurred to fan the la¬ 
tent spirit of disaffection into a flame. During 
the late session of parliament. Sir Edmund But¬ 
ler had been distinguished in the house of Com¬ 
mons by a violent opposition to the measures of 
the lord-deputy, who openly attributed his con¬ 
duct to disloyalty. Butler quitted the parlia¬ 
ment in a rage, roused his dependents in Kil¬ 
kenny and Tipperary, and commenced a course 
of lawless proceedings which fully justified the 
viceroy’s suspicions. Sir Peter Carew, a knight 
of an ancient and honorable family, had laid 
claim to some of Butler’s lands, and obtained 
legal authority to take possession of them ; but 
when he attempted to carry it into execution, 
he was repelled by violence; and when sum¬ 
moned to appear before commissioners appoint¬ 
ed to try the cause, Butler disdained to obey 
the mandate. 

As the king of Spain had, at this time, an 
agent in Ireland, named Juan Mendoza, who 
was secretly practising to excite an insurrection 

M 2 


BATTLE OF KILKENNY. 


211 


against the government; and as it was discovered 
that the earls of Thomond and Clancarthy, with 
James Fitzmaurice, the earl of Desmond’s bro¬ 
ther, had sent the Roman Catholic prelates of 
Cashel and Ross to Spain, requiring assistance, 
Sir Henry Sidney entertained apprehensions that 
Butler would unite with them; he, therefore, 
ordered Sir Peter Carew, who commanded at 
Leighlin, to reduce him before so dangerous a 
junction should take place. Carew, being in¬ 
formed that a strong force of the Butlers had 
assembled near Kilkenny, attacked them with 
such vigour, that they soon fled from the field, 
and four hundred are said to have perished in 
the pursuit. 

In the mean time, James Fitzmaurice and 
his associates had taken up arms, and after com¬ 
mitting great devastations in their route, in¬ 
vested the city of Kilkenny. Their tumultuary 
forces being repelled by the zeal and valour of 
the garrison and citizens, they wreaked their 
vengeance on the adjacent country, marking 
their progress through the most civilized dis¬ 
tricts of Munster with murder and rapine. 


*21'2 JAMES FITZMAUllTCE. 

They took lord Kerry prisoner, after ravaging 
his estates ; and Sir Warham St. Leger, who 
commanded in Munster, being at this time in 
the North, his lady was compelled to shut her¬ 
self up in the city of Cork, which was speedily 
invested by the rebel forces. Fitzmaurice, 
elated by these successes, conceived that the 
extirpation of the English authority was reserv¬ 
ed for his valour, and he sent fresh emissaries 
to Rome and Spain, to hasten the succours 
which were to enable him to accomplish an ob¬ 
ject so successfully begun. 

But his project was quickly frustrated by the 
activity of the lord-deputy, who arriving sud¬ 
denly to the relief of lady St. Jieger, with a 
chosen body, Fitzmaurice fled to Kilmallock in 
the county of Limerick, where, after executing 
the sovereign and several of the principal inha¬ 
bitants, he set fire to the town. He soon after 
made his escape to his friends in Ulster, where 
he concealed himself for some time, and after¬ 
wards returned to the South, to raise fresh com¬ 
motions. The earl of Ormond, having arriveil 
from England, greatly assisted the deputy in 


SIR JOHN PKRROT. 


restoring peace to Munster. He prevailed on 
his brother, Sir Edmund Butler, to appear be¬ 
fore Sir Henry Sidney at Limerick, and Clan- 
earthy, with all the other great malcontents, 
were persuaded to return to their allegiance ; 
but the earl of Thomond fled to France, where 
he fortunately gained the fovour of the English 
ambassador, and, by his mediation with the 
queen, obtained a pardon, with a pension of 
£200 a-year. 

To accomplish the final reduction of the pro¬ 
vince to tranquillity. Sir John Perrot was now 
appointed president of Munster. He was said 
to be the natural son of Henry VIII. a suppo¬ 
sition which received some confirmation, not 
only from his external appearance, but from his 
blustering demeanour and coarse language.— 
Yet he possessed abilities of no common order, 
and his conduct was marked both by vigour 
and wisdom, with an anxious desire to improve 
the condition of the people intrusted to his care. 
He pursued the insurgents without intermission 
till he chased them from all their haunts, and 
compelled Fitzmaurice, their turbulent leader, 


214 


PLANTATIONS IN ULSTER. 


to make his submission in the church of Kil- 
mallock, where he lay prostrate at the presi¬ 
dent’s feet, who held the point of his sword to 
Fitzmaurice's heart, in token that his life was 
.at the queen’s disposal. While the ■’isatfected 
were thus terrified, the well-disposed looked 
up to Sir John Perrot as their protector, who, 
to complete the pacification of the province, 
held regular courts for the redress of grievances; 
and by this firm and judicious course of pro¬ 
ceeding, industry and civility appeared to be 
so generally established throughout the king¬ 
dom, that Sir Henry Sidney was permitted to 
return to England, and the reins of government 
were entrusted to his brother-in-law, Sir Wil¬ 
liam Fitzwilliam. 

This improved state of the country gave rise 
to many projects among the English, particu¬ 
larly for planting colonies in those parts of Ul¬ 
ster which had become forfeited to the crown, 
The design was first conceived by Sir Thoma; 
Smith, the queen’s principal secretary of state, 
a man equally celebrated for his talents and hii 
credulity. Having procured a grant of land: 


M ALTER EARL OF ESSEX. 


215 


in Ulster, his natural son was commissioned to 
transport a colony into a peninsula called the 
Ardes, which was considered of easy defence, 
and here lands were assigned to his followers at 
the rate of one penny per acre! But young 
Smith having been treacherously assassinated 
soon after, by one of the O’Neills, the whole 
design was frustrated. Yet this failure did not 
deter Walter earl of Essex from making a simi¬ 
lar attempt on a more extended scale. This 
nobleman, who was a descendant of king Ed¬ 
ward III. by a daughter of Thomas of Wood- 
stock, his youngest son, had greatly recom¬ 
mended himself to the queen, both by his learn¬ 
ing and valour; and this having excited the 
jealousy of the earl of Leicester, he was anx¬ 
ious to seek some occupation for him at a dis¬ 
tance from the court. Elizabeth, in compliance 
with his wishes, conferred on Essex half of the 
district of Clan-hu-boy, comprehending part of 
the counties of Down and Antrim, on condition 
of his rescuing the whole of it from the rebels, 
and defraying half the expenses of the service. 
It was agreed between the queen and the earl. 


^16 


BllYAN O’NEILL. 


that fortifications should be raised, and twelve 
hundred troops maintained ; that four hundred 
acres should be given to each horseman, and 
two hundred to each footman, at two-pence per 
acre ; that the earl of Essex should be com- 
mander-in-chief for seven years, and continue 
the plantation till two thousand English inha¬ 
bitants should be settled in Clan-hu-boy. 

Essex mortgaged his estates to the queen for 
ten thousand pounds, to equip this expedition, 
from which he anticipated the greatest success; 
and on the 20th of August, 1373, he landed at 
Carrickfergus, accompanied by the lords Dacre 
and Rich, Sir Henry Knowles, and his four 
brothers, three sons of lord Norris, who became 
afterwards distinguished in the Irish wars, and 
some troops of horse and foot. Brian Mac- 
Phelimy O’Neill, Hugh, lord of Dungannon, 
with other native chieftains, immediately wait¬ 
ed on the earl, to offer their services. But they 
soon manifested their insincerity, (which is said 
to have been encouraged by the lord deputy 
Fitzwilliam) by joining in open rebellion against 
his authority with Turlogh Lynogh O’Neill 


COMMOTIONS. 


217 


the lord of Tyrone. They commenced a sys¬ 
tem of hostilities of the most annoying descrip¬ 
tion, and so harassed his forces that the lords 
Dacre and Rich soon abandoned the enterprise; 
and the earl himself was on the point of follow¬ 
ing this example, when his enemies found means 
to detain him in Ireland, under the pretext of 
assisting the lord deputy to suppress some com¬ 
motions which had burst forth in other quarters 
of the kingdom. 

In Leinster the O’Mores had again taken up 
arms, while a chief of the ancient house of Mac 
Murchard committed great devastations in Wex¬ 
ford. The latter was effectually opposed by 
Sir Peter Carew, and afterwards so completely 
reclaimed by his kindness, that he became 
wholly devoted to him; and to such a length 
is he said to have carried this attachment, that 
on the death of Sir Peter Carew, the good- 
natured Irishman pined with grief till he died. 

In Connaught the severities of Sir Edward 
Fitton, the lord president, had driven the sons 
of the earl of Clanrickard (who were called the 
Mac-an-Earlas) into open rebellion ; and in the 

N 


218 


ESCAPE OF DESMOND. 


midst of these troubles, Desmond and his bro¬ 
ther, -yrho had been so long detained prisoners 
in London, found an opportunity for regaining 
their liberty. Having been freed from their 
imprisonment in the Tower, under heavy re¬ 
cognizances, they were transmitted to Dublin, 
to live as state prisoners in the custody of the 
mayor, who indulged them with such liberty, 
that, under pretence of hunting, they escaped 
into Munster, where they were joyfully receiv¬ 
ed by their old followers, who had just at that 
time received fresh encouragement from Rome 
and Spain, to persevere in their opposition to 
Elizabeth’s government. Desmond was now 
proclaimed a traitor, and a reward of one thou¬ 
sand pounds, and forty pounds a year, offered 
for his apprehension; or half that sum to any 
person who would bring in his head: but al¬ 
though it was accompanied by a vigorous pur¬ 
suit by the army under the earls of Essex and 
Kildare, Desmond for the present found means 
to elude all the efforts of the government. 

Essex returned from this fruitless expedition 
to protect his plantation in Ulster from the 


EXECUTION OF BRYAN o’neILL. 219 

ravagGS of liis Irish iiGighhours. He gained 
some advantages over them in 1574, taking 
Bryan O’Neill, the chieftain of Clandeboy, 
and others, prisoners at Belfast, after an action 
in which two hundred of the Irish were slain, 
and their chieftains were afterwards executed 
at Carrickfergus. A different account of this 
transaction is given by the historian Leland, on 
the authority of an Irish manuscript in Trinity 
College, which states that after a solemn peace 
had been concluded between Essex and Bryan 
O’Neill, the earl invited the chieftain, with a 
number of his friends, to an entertainment, and 
that in the midst of their good cheer, Bryan 
and his friends were arrested, after their'follow- 
ers had been put to the sword before their faces, 
and being sent off to Dublin, were there hang¬ 
ed and quartered. This barbarous act appears 
much at variance with the general character of 
this nobleman; yet it must be confessed that in 
the unhappy times of which I write, few of the 
leaders at any side seemed over-scrupulous with 
respect to the mode of getting rid of an enemy. 

In 1575, Sir William Fitzwilliam resigned 

N 2 


220 


PUOGRESS OF 


the Irish government, which was again assumed 
by Sir Henry Sidney, who instantly proceeded 
to Ulster, and set up his standard at Armagh, 
where his presence was sufficient to quell all 
commotion. He then entered Connaught, and 
spent a short time in Galway, receiving the 
submissions of the refractory chieftains of the 
West, which held good only till his lordship was 
out of the province ; and in the beginning of 
1576 he commenced his progress in Munster. 
The account of this tour, which Sir Henry 
Sidney sent to the privy council in England, 
gives a striking picture of the unsettled state 
of the province and the manners of the people 
at that period. He praises the loyalty and hos¬ 
pitality of Waterford, where he was entertain¬ 
ed with shows both on land and water. The 
lord Power’s country of Curraghmore was re¬ 
markable for plenty and good order, because 
no idlers were suffered there; and though the 
land was much worse, the tenants made more 
of one acre than was made of three in the 
county of Kilkenny. In the Decies, the next 
district, the case was very different, Sir James 


SIR HENRY SIDNEY. 


221 


Fitzgerald having brought his estate almost to 
ruin by the encouragement which he gave to 
idlers. Of the Waterfordians of that day, that 
quaint and humorous old chronicler, Holling- 
shed, says, They are pregnant in conceiving, 
quick in taking, and sure in keeping. They 
are very heedy and wary in all their public af¬ 
fairs, slow in the determining of matters of 
weight, loving to look ere they leap ; young 
and old are wholly addicted to thriving; the 
men commonly to traffic, the women to spin¬ 
ning and carding—and as they distil the best 
aqua vitcBy so they spin the choicest rug in Ire¬ 
land.” 

At Dungarvan the earl of Desmond made a 
formal submission, and was once more received 
into favour: this town was found much decay¬ 
ed by Fitzmaurice’s rebellion. From a similar 
cause, he found Youghal not able to entertain 
him and his retinue, which forced him to con¬ 
tinue without delay his journey to Cork, where 
he was received with great tokens of joy, and 
sumptuously lodged for six weeks. This city 
had greatly improved since it became the resi- 


PROGRESS OF 


dence of the president of Munster, previous to 
which it was so surrounded with hordes of out¬ 
laws,'that the inhabitants were forced to watch 
their gates continually, keeping them shut at 
meals, and on Sunday during divine service. 
No stranger was suffered to enter the place 
^vith his weapons, and the citizens could take 
no recreation beyond the walls without being 
attended by an escort of armed men. In this 
city the earls of Thomond, Desmond, and Clan- 
earthy, waited on Sir Henry Sidney, with the 
lords Barry and Roche, and many other lords, 
and with them a great number of Irish chief¬ 
tains, as Sir Donald and Sir Cormac Mac-Arthy, 
whom the deputy recommended the queen to 
elevate to~the peerage; the O’Garrols, O’Re- 
gans, Mac-Donoghs, Mac-Fineens, O’Callagh- 
ans, O’Driscolls, O’Mahons, and Mac-Swineys, 
each of whom, said the deputy, had sufficient 
land to live like a baron or a knight in Eng¬ 
land. They all kept Christmas in Cork, with 
extraordinary good cheer, expressed their de¬ 
testation of their former barbarous mode of liv¬ 
ing, and their willingness to hold their lands 


SIR HENRY SIDNEY. 


223 


of her majesty, and pay her both rent and ser¬ 
vice. From hence Sir Henry Sidney repaired 
to Limerick, a city said, even then, to be 
sumptuously and substantially builded, where, 
as he tells the council, he was received with 
much greater magnificence than he had yet 
seen in Ireland. Here he was waited upon by 
the O’Briens and Mac-Briens, the O’Moylans, 
Bourkes, Lacys, Supples, Purcels, and Red 
Roches, with the heads of many other great 
families on the south side of the Shannon, be¬ 
sides the earl of Thomond, the Macnamaras, 
and others, from the north side, who all com¬ 
plained of what they had suffered during the 
late troubles, and requested an English force 
to protect them. 

I have been thus particular in tracing the 
progress of Sir Henry Sidney through Munster, 
to show you how much that province had im¬ 
proved under the wise and vigorous govern¬ 
ment of Sir John Perrot. But that brave knight 
having returned to England in 1576, Sir Wil¬ 
liam Drury, who had served with great repu¬ 
tation as governor of Berwick, was appointed 


224 


SIR WILLIAM DRURY AND 


his successor; and such confidence was now 
placed in the earl of Desmond, that he was 
nominated one of the council. But this lord 
became alarmed, when the president signified 
his determination of extending his jurisdiction 
into Kerry, which had become the refuge of 
all the malefactors in the province. Desmond 
pleaded, in vain, his palatine authority; but, 
reserving himself for an appeal to the chief go¬ 
vernor, he promised all due submission, and 
invited the president to reside at his house in 
Tralee. Drury set out soon after, with one 
hundred and twenty men-at-arms; but, on ap¬ 
proaching the town, he was astonished to be¬ 
hold seven hundred of Desmond’s soldiers, all 
tall, active, and vigorous men, advancing upon 
him. Unacquainted with the customs of the 
Irish, he at once concluded that he was be¬ 
trayed, and encouraged his men to make a vi¬ 
gorous onset, rather than suffer themselves to 
be surrounded and cut to pieces. The Des- 
monians fled at the first charge ; and, the earl 
being absent, his countess, a Butler of the 
Dunboyne family, assured the lord-president 


THE COUNTESS OF DESMOND. 


225 


that these men had not advanced with hostile 
intentions, but had been assembled by her lord 
to do him honour, and entertain him with hunt¬ 
ing, for which the men of Kerry were greatly 
distinguished. Sir William Drury appeared 
satisfied with the explanation, and then pro¬ 
ceeded to execute the purpose for which he en¬ 
tered the district. 

During these proceedings in the South the 
earl of Essex had proceeded to England, to lay 
before the queen the grievances under which 
he was suffering in Ulster. But the jealousy 
of Leicester again found a pretext for removing 
him from court, and he was sent back with the 
empty title of earl-marshal of Ireland. His fu¬ 
ture efforts against the Irish were attended 
with little success, while his spirit was wound¬ 
ed by the intrigues of his court enemies; and 
these united causes undermining his constitu¬ 
tion, he was carried off by a dysentery, in 
September, 1576. The symptoms of his dis¬ 
ease were such, that a clergyman, one of his 
attendants, exclaimed, on seeing him in great 
pain, By the mass, my lord, you are poison- 


226 


THE MAC-AN-EARLAS. 


ed !” This gave rise to a rumour, that the 
earl’s death was procured by unfair means; 
which received some confirmation in the eyes 
of the world, by the speedy marriage of the 
earl of Leicester with his countess. 

The continued ravages of the Mac-an-Earlas 
(Clanrickard’s sons) obliged Sir Henry Sidney, 
early in 1577, again to visit Connaught; and 
during his residence in Galway, these turbu¬ 
lent youths, to evade the punishment which 
they dreaded, made a formal submission in the 
church, and promised in future to be strictly 
obedient to her majesty’s laws. But in less than 
two months after the lord-deputy’s departure, 
they again flew to arms, by the counsel of the 
earl their father, crossed the Shannon, and de¬ 
stroyed the town of Athenry, which some 
workmen were engaged in rebuilding by com¬ 
mand of the queen. Then, hiring two thousand 
Scotch forces, they laid siege to the castle of 
Loughrea ; but this the bravery of the garri¬ 
son, under captains L’Estrange and Collins, 
compelled them to abandon, after they had lost 
six of their principal captains, and one hundred 


GRACE o’mALEY. 


227 


and fifty men. The insurgents then turned 
their arms against Mac-William Oughter, from 
whom they took several castles. But the 
prompt arrival of Sir Henry Sidney put an end 
to their lawless proceedings;—a great number 
of them were destroyed in the field, and Wil¬ 
liam, Clanrickard’s youngest son, with a son 
of the earl of Thomond, w'as hanged at the 
market-cross of Galway. 

There lived at this time, in Connaught, a ce¬ 
lebrated heroine, named Grace O’Maley, bet¬ 
ter known amongst the Irish as Grana Uille. 
She was the daughter of Owen O’Maley, whose 
ancestors, from time immemorial, were lords of 
a territory stretching from Lough Corrib in the 
county of Galway to Croagh Patrick in Mayo, 
and from thence to the vicinity of the town of 
Sligo, a fine fertile tract, for the most part 
skirted by the sea and indented by excellent 
bays and harbours, in which were interspersed 
many islands of considerable beauty and extent. 
The O’Maleys, from their maritime situation, 
had been long conspicuous for]]naval exploits; 
and, according to Sir Henry Sidney’s report. 


228 


GRACE o’mALEY. 


they were strong in galleys and seamen. The 
son of Owen O’Maley being but a youth at his 
father’s death, the management of the exten¬ 
sive property of his family both by sea and 
land devolved on Grace, who, inheriting the 
spirit of her ancestors, had frequently accom¬ 
panied her father in his hiaritime expeditions, 
and manifested a degree of courage and enter- 
prize unusual in her sex. She had a strong 
castle in Clare Island, where her larger vessels 
were moored, while the small craft were kept 
at Carrick-a-Uille, in the bay of Newport, in 
the county of Mayo. Here she fixed her resi¬ 
dence, and a hole in the castle-wall is still 
shown, through which a cable was run from a 
vessel, and fastened to her bed, that she might 
be instantly alarmed on the approach of an 
enemy. 

Grace O’Maley was first married to O’Fla¬ 
herty, a powerful chieftain of Connaught, and 
afterwards to Sir Richard Bourke. She ap¬ 
pears to have frequently rendered service to 
the English, particularly at the battle of Kueil- 
ledare, fought by Sir Richard Bingham against 


GRACE o’mALEY. 


229 


a rebellious sept of the BourkeSj where she 
brought a reinforcement to his assistance at a 
critical moment, which enabled him to give the 
enemy a total defeat. For this loyal and zea¬ 
lous conduct queen Elizabeth sent her a letter 
of thanks, and invited her to court. The invi¬ 
tation was accepted, and Grace O’Maley sail¬ 
ed for England, though far advanced in her 
pregnancy. She was delivered of a son while 
on ship-board, called from this circumstance 
Tibbot-ny-Lung, or Toby of the Ships, who 
became the first viscount Mayo. She appeared 
before Elizabeth in the dress of her country. 
She wore a yellow boddice and petticoat, with 
a long flowing mantle, while her hair was ga¬ 
thered on the crown of her head, and fastened 
with a gold bodkin. The queen, surrounded 
by her ladies, received the Irish heroine in the 
most gracious manner, and offered to make her 
a countess; but Grace O’Maley is said to have 
replied, that as they were both princesses and 
equals, no honour could be conferred on either 
by the other; but she accepted the distinction 
of knighthood for her infant son, who was 


230 


GRACE o’MALEY. 


brought into the queen’s presence. Tradition 
states, that on her return to Ireland she landed 
in a little creek near Howth, and walking up 
to the castle, found the gates shut, as the fa¬ 
mily were at dinner. After making some inqui¬ 
ries, she learned that the infant son and heir of 
lord Howth was nursing at a short distance; 
she immediately carried the child on board her 
ship, as a punishment for the inhospitality she 
had experienced ; nor did she return him till 
after the payment of a considerable ransom. 

Grace O’Maley appears to have had some 
dispute with the government soon after this ; 
for, in 1579, we find that her romantic castle 
of Carrick-a-Uille was besieged by a party of 
the queen’s forces, under captain Martin. But 
the castle was so vigorously defended by this 
extraordinary woman, that the troops were 
forced to retreat, after narrowly escaping cap¬ 
tivity. 


SIDNEY’S DISPUTE WITH THE PALE. 


231 


CHAPTER IX. 


Dispute between Sir Henry Sidney and the 
Lords of the Pale—Traitorous proceedings 
of Stukeley and Fitzmaurice—Sir William 
Drury Lord Deputy—Spanish Debarkation 
at Smerwick—Sir John of Desmond — Mur¬ 
der of Heiiry Danvers—Death of Fitzmau¬ 
rice—Duplicity of the Earl of Desmond — 
Action at Murrow—Battle of Manister—Sir 
Willi(Xm Pelham Lord Deputy—Desmond 
and his brothers proclaimed traitors — Cap¬ 
ture and Recapture of Youghal—The Spa¬ 
niards at Smerwick put to the sword — Cap¬ 
ture and Execution of Sir James of Desmond 
—Dreadful state of the Country. 

The popularity of Sir Henry Sidney, to¬ 
wards the close of his wise and vigorous ad¬ 
ministration of the Irish government, suffered 
considerable diminution on account of the 



232 


TREASONABLE PROCEEDINGS OF 


rigour with which he levied certain assessments 
for the expenses of the state. A formal com¬ 
plaint of these impositions was made to Eliza¬ 
beth by the lords of the Pale and others, who 
sent agents to England to prove their illegality ; 
but the deputy being able to show that he had 
the royal warrant for all that he had done, the 
queen, with her usual imperiousness declared 
that her prerogative should not be touched, 
and the agents with some Irish lords were com¬ 
mitted prisoners to the Fleet. They were, how¬ 
ever, soon after liberated on making a dutiful 
acknowledgment of their offence, and the busi¬ 
ness in dispute was accommodated. 

This moderation is chiefly to be attributed 
to the dread of a foreign invasion which now 
universally prevailed. From the beginning of 
Elizabeth’s reign Spain and Rome had com¬ 
bined their efforts to effect the overthrow of 
the heretical queen of England, and these courts 
had now become the resort of every desperate 
fugitive who could propose any plan for her 
annoyance. Amongst these was an Englishman, 
named Thomas Stukeley, who being obliged 


STUKELEY AND FITZMAURICE. 


233 


to leave his own country for some mal-practices 
in the reign of Edward VI. had taken refuge 
in Ireland, where by his enterprising genius he 
raised himself to some degree of consequence, 
and even insinuated himself into the good graces 
of Sir Henry Sidney. But being disappointed 
in his expectations of becoming seneschal of 
Wexford, he went to Rome, filled with the 
most determined aversion to Elizabeth’s govern¬ 
ment. lie was introduced by some Irish 
ecclesiastics to pope Pius V. to whom he ex¬ 
tolled the power of the queen’s enemies in Ire¬ 
land, and engaged with the aid of three thou¬ 
sand Italians to drive the English out of the 
country. Gregory XIII. the succeeding pope, 
cheerfully embraced the overture on Stukeley’s 
hinting that one of his relatives might be made 
king of Jreland, and he encouraged Philip of 
Spain to commence an invasion of the island 
with the hope that through the valour and 
address of Stukeley, he would be able to burn 
the English fleet. A body of eight hundred 
Italians was soon raised for this service, whom 
Philip engaged to pay, and the Holy Father was 


234 


fitzmaurice and henry IV. 


so elevated by the flattering prospects that this 
adventurer held out, that he assumed the royal 
dominion of the country, and created Stukeley 
marquis of Leinster, earl of Wexford and Car- 
low, viscount Murrogh, and baron of Ross. 

James Fitzmaurice was now engaged in the 
same cause in other parts of the continent. 
He evinced his gratitude to the queen for the 
pardon which he received through Sir John 
Perrot, by immediately repairing to the court 
of France with Fitzgibbon the White Knight, 
where he pointed out to Henry IV. the facility 
with which he might wrest Ireland from the 
dominion of the English crown. But that 
monarch, too enlightened to encourage rebel¬ 
lion, advised him to submit to his sovereign, 
and promised to intercede forhim withhisgood 
sister Elizabeth. Fitzmaurice, however, re¬ 
jecting this wise counsel, proceeded to the 
Spanish court, where he met more attention, 
and received an introduction from king Philip 
to the pope, who was soon prevailed upon by 
two ecclesiastics, Saunders, an Englishman, and 
Allen, an Irish Jesuit, to sanction his design of 


DEATH OF STUKELEY. 


235 


invading Ireland : and as these priests consent¬ 
ed to accompany the expedition, Saunders was 
appointed the pope’s legate, and Gregory issued 
a hull exhorting all the prelates, princes, nobles, 
and people of Ireland, to assert their liberty, 
and defend the Holy Church. It granted the 
same indulgences to all who should engage in 
this war as to those who fought against the 
Turks ; and a banner was solemnly consecrated, 
and delivered to Fitzmaurice, as a chosen cham¬ 
pion of the faith. 

When Elizabeth heard of these designs she 
was not slow in making preparations to meet 
the threatened danger. A fleet was stationed 
to guard the coast, and measures were taken to 
recruit the army in Ireland, while Sir Henry 
Sidney was instructed to watch every move¬ 
ment of the disaflected. But intelligence soon 
arrived which quieted her fears. Stukeley, 
having embarked his forces at Civita Vecchia, 
arrived at the mouth of the Tagus at the very 
moment when Don Sebastian, king of Portugal, 
was fitting out an armament for the invasion of 
Morocco. Sebastian promised Stukeley, that if 


236 THE SPANIARDS LAND AT SMERWICK. 

he would accompany him on his expedition to 
Africa, he would afterwards assist him in the 
invasion of Ireland ; and the unfortunate ad¬ 
venturer consenting, he had the honor of falling 
with the king of Portugal in that fatal enter¬ 
prise. This event turned the attention of the 
Spanish monarch from the conquest of Ireland 
to that of Portugal, and the apprehensions of 
Elizabeth being now much allayed, she con¬ 
sented that Sir Henry Sidney should resign the 
government of Ireland to Sir William Drury. 

Fitzmaurice, in the mean time, had sailed for 
Ireland, with about fourscore Spaniards, and 
some English and Irish fugitives, expecting to 
be speedily followed by the force under Stuke- 
ley, and on the first of July 1579, he landed 
in Kerry at a bay called Smerwick. But this 
had scarcely been effected, when a ship of war 
from Kinsale, under Captain Courtnay, doubled 
the point of land, and cut away his transports. 
The invaders, undismayed at having their 
retreat thus cut off, instantly began to raise 
fortifications on the peninsula, which was hal¬ 
lowed by their chaplains, Saunders and Allen ; 


SIR JOHN OF DESMOND. 


537 


and they received further encouragement by 
the speedy junction of Sir John and Sir James 
Fitzgerald, brothers of the earl of Desmond, 
with their followers. The earl, himself, found 
it necessary, at this time, to temporize; and 
even offered to raise forces to attack the inva¬ 
ders : but when the lord deputy pressed the 
execution of his promise, he found means to 
evade it on various pretences. 

Fitzmaurice and the Spaniards now became 
alarmed at Desmond’s duplicity, and they even 
expressed doubts of the attachment of Sir John 
to their cause; but the latter resolved on prov¬ 
ing his sincerity by the perpetration of one of 
the most atrocious actions recorded in the 
blood-stained annals of our island. Henry 
Danvers, high sheriff of the county of Cork, an 
English gentleman of the most benevolent cha¬ 
racter, had for some time served in this country, 
and the rectitude of his conduct had acquired 
for him the esteem and affection of many indi¬ 
viduals both of the English and Irish race.— 
The Desmond family had frequently expe¬ 
rienced his good offices; Sir John, in parficu- 


238 


MURDER OF HENRY DANVERS. 


lar, had been repeatedly redeemed from prison 
by his bounty; and so close was their intimacy, 
that they generally accosted each other by the 
familiar appellations of father and son. He was 
commissioned, upon this occasion, by Sir Wil¬ 
liam Drury, to confirm Desmond and his brethren 
in their supposed loyalty, and after an ineffec¬ 
tual effort to prevail on them to attack the fort 
of Smerwick, he set out on his return to the 
lord deputy. His route lay through Tralee, 
whither Sir John pursued him with a chosen 
band of assassins. Having discovered the 
house which contained his unsuspecting friend, 
he bribed the porter to leave the gate unbarred, 
and in the dead of the night, rushed into his 
chamber with his armed bandits. Danvers, 
aroused by the tumult, and seeing Sir John, 
exclaimed, What, my son, what means this 
brawl?” But the hardened miscreant only 
replied by plunging his sword into the breast 
of his benefactor! His brother assassins, in 
the mean time, rushing from chamber to cham¬ 
ber, murdered Justice Mead, Mr, Charters, 
the provost-marshal of Munster, with all their 


FITZMAURICE AND THE DE BOUIIGIIOS. 239 

attendants, except an Irish lacquey of Mr. 
Danvers, who had endeavoured with unavailing 
fidelity to protect his unfortunate master. 

The vile perpetrator of this horrible act re¬ 
turned to the invaders, glorying in the carnage 
which had sealed his attachment to their cause : 
but though he was applauded by the majority, 
the earl and Fitzmaurice condemned him as 
guilty of an act of perfidy and ingratitude 
which no circumstances could justify. But 
however warmly the foreigners commended Sir 
John’s conduct, they soon became filled with 
discontent at the non-arrival of the reinforce¬ 
ments which they had been led to expect.— 
Fitzmaurice, finding it difficult to keep them 
in subordination, besought them to keep their 
station, while he should pay a visit to the 
abbey of Holy Cross, in Tipperary, to perform 
a vow which he had made in Spain; but his 
real design was to excite the disaffected in 
Connaught and Ulster to unite in his cause. 
Having obtained the consent of his associates, 
he pursued his route through the county of 
Limerick, with a small detachment of horse 


240 


DEATH OF FITZMAURICfi. 


and foot, till arriving on the lands of his cousiii 
Sir William de Bourgho, he ordered his men to 
seize the first horses they should meet. They 
accordingly took the horses from a plough be¬ 
longing to Sir William, upon which the plough¬ 
men set up an alarm, and the knight, with his 
four sons, attended by some kerns, instantly 
pursued the marauders. They overtook them 
in a wood, when Fitzmaurice, seeing Sir Wil¬ 
liam’s eldest son, thus addressed him, Cousin 
Theobald, the taking of garrons shall be no 
breach between you and me; if you knew the 
cause we have in hand, you would assist us 
he then acquainted him with his designs, and 
the assistance he expected from the pope and 
the king of Spain. To this de Bourgho replied. 
We have too much meddled that way already, 
and have cause to curse the day Avhen we 
opposed the queen’s authority, and we are 
resolved never more to swerve from our alle¬ 
giance.’’ He then demanded that the horses 
should be returned ; and this being rejected by 
Fitzmaurice, a desperate encounter ensued, in 
which this turbulent leader with many of his 


THE VICEIIOY’s PROCLAMATION. 241 

followers were slain, and Theobald de Bourgho, 
with his younger brother shared a similar fate. 
The body of Fitzmaurice was cut up in quar¬ 
ters, and fixed upon the gates of Kilmallock ; 
and queen Elizabeth rewarded the loyalty of 
the de Bourghos by creating Sir William lord 
Castleconnell. 

When the Spaniards heard of Fitzmaurice’s 
death, they expressed great anxiety to return 
to their own country ; but finding all means of 
retreat cut oif, they were compelled to submit 
themselves to the guidance of Sir John of Des¬ 
mond, Avho abandoning Smerwick, distributed 
his forces in Kerry, where through the exer¬ 
tions of the ecclesiastics their numbers were 
daily increased, and they were encouraged by 
the promise of speedy succours from Spain, and 
a new bull from the pope investing Sir John 
with the plenitude of his authority. In the 
mean time Sir William Drury arrived in the 
county of Limerick with nine hundred men, and 
issued a proclamation from Kilmallock com¬ 
manding all the lords and gentlemen of Munster 

to repair with their followers to his standard. 

o 


242 


ACTION AT MURROW. 


This was very generally obeyed, and even the 
earl of Desmond with well-aflfected duplicity 
joined the lord deputy with a "considerable 
body of men. It being soon, however, discover¬ 
ed that he maintained a correspondence with 
the Spaniards, he was committed to custody; 
yet with an ill-directed clemency, he was 
again set at liberty, on renewing his oath of 
allegiance to the queen. 

Sir John of Desmond was now encamped 
in considerable force near Slievelogher, from 
whence for nine weeks he kept the royal army 
in constant alarm, and upon one occasion cut 
to pieces a party of two hundred men near 
Murrow in the county of Limerick, with their 
commanders, captains Herbert and Price. The 
fatigue and vexation of this harassing mode of 
warfare, overpowered the enfeebled constitu¬ 
tion of the lord deputy, who, being seized with 
a languishing illness, committed the conduct of 
the army to Sir Nicholas Malby, the president 
of Connaught, and retired to Waterford. 

The success of the rebel leader now filled 
him with arrogance, and he bid open defiance 


BATTLE OF MANISTER-NENAGIl. 


243 


to the queen’s authority : but his exultation was 
short-lived, for the losses of the royal army 
were supplied by a reinforcement from England 
under captains Bourchier and Carew, while 
Sir John Perrot arrived on the coast with six 
ships of war to intercept any further assistance 
from Spain. As soon as his new succours had 
reached his camp, Sir Nicholas Malby marched 
from Kilmallock with seven hundred men, and 
having entered Connello, found the force under 
Sir John of Desmond drawn up in a plain near 
an old abbey called Manister-Nenagh. The 
various dispositions were made by the Spanish 
officers with a regularity unusual to the Irish; 
and doctor Allen displaying the popish stand¬ 
ard, gave the strongest assurances of vic¬ 
tory. Encouraged by these exhortations the 
Irish defended their post for three hours with 
the greatest obstinacy ; but the superior discip¬ 
line of the English at length put them to flight, 
after lea\ing two hundred and sixty men with 
the famous doctor Allen dead on the spot. 

Malby encamped on the field, and soon after 
received a congratulatory letter from the earl of 


244 


Desmond’s duplicity. 


Desmondj who, with lord Kerry, had watched 
the progress of the battle from a neighbouring 
hill. But some papers which the English com¬ 
mander had found among the baggage of the 
unfortunate Allen, having convinced him of the 
earl’s dissimulation^ he severely expostulated 
with him on the duplicity of his conduct, and 
soon after moved his head-quarters to his town 
of iluthkeal, as a means of securing his obe¬ 
dience. Desmond resented this attack upon 
his territory by making a fruitless attempt on 
the English camp. He also put his castles of 
Askeaton and Carrigfoyle into a posture of 
defence, which Malby was about to invest 
when the death of Sir William Drury put an 
end to his authority in Munster, and he retired 
to his station in Connaught. 

Sir John of Desmond, since his defeat, con¬ 
tinued to lurk in the adjoining woods ; but the 
death of the deputy having for the present 
paralysed the operations of the royal forces, he 
issued, once more from his concealment, and 
laid siege to the castle of Adare which contain- 
. ed a garrison of four hundred and fifty men, 


SIR WILLIAM PELHAM LORD DEPUTA'. 245 


under the command of Sir George Carew, who 
was afterwards earl ofTotness. But after a 
number of petty actions, in one of which Sir 
James Desmond Avas Avounded, the rebels Avere 
compelled to retire. In the mean time Sir 
William Pelham Avas appointed lord deputy, 
and having erected the royal standard at Cashel 
on the 22d of November, he was joined by the 
earl of Ormond and other w'ell affected leaders 
with a considerable force, and summoned the 
immediate attendance of Desmond at his camp. 
He then proceeded to Limerick, where the 
mayor presented him with a thousand men AA ell 
armed, and on the following day the countess 
of Desmond appeared before the lord deputy 
Avith letters from her husband, containing the 
strongest professions of loyalty, and various 
futile excuses for disobeying his summons. Yet 
unwilling to proceed to the last extremities 
against this infatuated man. Sir William Pel- 
ham sent the earl of Ormond to reason with 
him on the folly of his conduct, and demand 
that he should send away all the foreign sol¬ 
diers, with Saunders the pope’s legate, surrender 

o 2 


246 DESMOND PROCLAIMED A TRAITOR. 

the castles of Askeaton and Carrigfojie, sub¬ 
mit himself absolutely to the queen, on a pro¬ 
mise of pardon, and turn his forces against the 
rebels. His reply consisting only of fresh 
complaints and menaces of involving the whole 
kingdom in confusion, he, with his brethren 
John and James and all their adherents, were 
proclaimed traitors and rebels by sound of 
trumpet ; and a strong force immediately com¬ 
menced its march to ravage his territories with 
fire and sword. Desmond retaliated by setting 
up the standard of rebellion at Ballyhowra, in 
the county of Cork, and declaring himself 
openly the champion of the Catholic faith, 
while emissaries were sent by him through the 
various provinces to excite a general rising in a 
cause which he pronounced to be both just and 
honorable. 

He commenced his military operations by 
investing the town of Youghal, which was 
speedily surrendered to him by Coppinger, the 
mayor, who, a short time before had refused to 
admit an English garrison. The town was 
given up to plunder, and the principal inhabi- 


ORMOND RECAPTURES YOUGIIAL, 247 


tants were sent prisoners to the castles of Stran- 
cally and Lisfinfly, then in possession of the 
Spaniards. On receiving intelligence of this 
event, the earl of Ormond sent a detachment 
from Waterford under captain White to recover 
the town ; but after they had gallantly forced 
one of the gates, White with the greater part 
of his men was cut off by Fitzgerald, the senes¬ 
chal of Imokilly. Ormond himself now marched 
to Youghal, and on his way apprehended the 
traitorous mayor. When he reached the town, 
he found it entirely abandoned by the inhabi¬ 
tants, not a single person remaining but a friar, 
whose life he spared on account of the humani¬ 
ty which he had showed in burying the body 
of Henry Danvers who had been so basely 
murdered by Sir John of Desmond. Ormond 
immediately executed the mayor before his 
own door, and having issued a proclamation 
encouraging the inhabitants to return to their 
dwellings, he left a garrison of three hundred 
men for their protection. 

On the 18th of January, 1580, Ormond was 
joined by the lord deputy at Waterford, when 


248 


CAPTURE OF CARRIGFOYLE. 


dividing their forces the former captured the 
castle of Strancally, and devastated the country 
as far as Slievelogher, putting about four hun¬ 
dred of the insurgents to the sword. Sir 
William Pelham, at the same time, entered 
Kerry, and laid siege to Desmond’s strong castle 
of Carrigfoyle, in which he had placed a gar¬ 
rison of fifty Irish and nineteen Spaniards under 
Don Julio, an Italian engineer. When sum¬ 
moned to surrender, the commander declared 
that he would defend the place to the last ex¬ 
tremity for the king of Spain ; and he made a 
gallant resistance till the breach was stormed 
by captain Mackworth, when the whole gar¬ 
rison including their brave leader, were put to 
the sword. Terrified by this severity the gar¬ 
risons of Askeaton and other castles abandoned 
their posts, and the whole of the surrounding 
country became a prey to the ravages of the 
royal forces. 

The unhappy Desmond, who had thus, 
without adequate means or any settled plan of 
operations, rashly plunged into rebellion, was 
now become a wretched outlaw. Accompanied 


EXECUTION OF SIR JAMES DESMOND. 249 

by b is faithful countess who shared all his mis¬ 
fortunes, his brothers John and James, and his 
bad adviser doctor Saunders, he wandered in 
the woods, sending out at night small detach¬ 
ments to procure provisions, or surprise any 
straggling parties of the queen’s troops. In one 
of these predatory excursions Sir James of Des¬ 
mond entered Murkerry, and attempted to 
carry off some cattle belonging to Sir Cormac 
Mac Arthy. But the prey was immediately 
rescued by Daniel Mac Arthy, a brother of the 
knight, after a desperate action in which one 
hundred and fifty of Desmond’s men M'ere 
slain, and Sir James himself was mortally 
wounded. lie was found in this state by a 
blacksmith, a servant of Sir Cormac, who bound 
him securely, and hid him In a bush till the 
fight was over, when he conveyed him to Cork, 
where he was condemned and executed as a 
traitor, and his head and quarters were fixed 
on the gates of the city. This unhappy youth 
perished in his twenty-second year, having 
been baptized at Limerick in 1558, with great 
pomp, in the presence of the lord Deputy 
Sussex;. 


650 


DESMOND A FUOUTIVE. 


These terrible disasters excited mutual re¬ 
proaches between the remaining rebel leaders ; 
and after the countess of Desmond had, once 
more, upon her knees, sought mercy in vain for 
her unfortunate husband. Sir John and the le¬ 
gate Saunders resolved to abandon their less 
guilty associate, and seek refuge with lord 
Baltinglass and their friends in Leinster. But 
from this last hope they were cut off by the 
vigilance of the garrison of Kilmallock, who, 
after capturing several of their attendants, com¬ 
pelled them to return to Kerry. Had the mi¬ 
series consequent on this dreadful insurrection, 
fallen alone on its principals, it would not have 
been so afflictive to humanity : but their un¬ 
happy vassals, bound by the tie of implicit 
obedience to these imperious lords, were equal 
sharers in their calamities : and to such misery 
were they reduced by the ravages of the sol¬ 
diery, that when bereft of all means of support 
by the seizure of their cattle, they were seen 
following the army with^heir wives and chil¬ 
dren, entreating the soldiers to rescue them b^ 
the sword from a still more horrible death bj 


DEVASTATIONS. 


251 


famine. How dreadful are the effects of civil 
war ! How should the ambitious chief or as¬ 
piring demagogue, pause before he plunges his 
countrymen into its vortex. The aggression of 
foreign nations are met with a kind of courteous 
hostility, but the word rebel steels every heart 
to compassion, and appears to justify the most 
rigorous severities on the part of the ruling 
power. 


252 


ARTHUR LORD GREY. 


CHAPTER X. 


Arthur Lord Grey^ Lord Deputy—Battle of 
the Seven Churches—Death of Sir Francis 
Cosby—Dorcas \Sidney—Death of Sir Alex~ 
under Cosby and his Son—Fresh arrival of 
Spaniards in the South—Repulse of the Earl 
of Ormond at Fort de VOr—Sir Walter 
Raleigh—Capture of Fort de VOr—Recal 
of Arthur Lord Grey—Exploits of Sir 
Walter Raleigh—Capture and Death of Sir 
John of Desmond—Assassination oj Gerald 
Earl of Desmond—Sir John Perrot^ Loj'd 
Deputy—Popularity of his Government — 
Scotch Invasion of Ulster repelled—A Par^ 
liament—Confiscation of Desmond's Lands 
—Plantation of Munster—Commotions in 
Connaught—Disputes between the Viceroy 
and Sir Richard Bingham '—Defeat of De 
Bourgho, 

At the moment when the desperate state of 
Desmond’s affairs gave hope that the commo- 



I'UELIM MCHUGH O^BYRNE. 253 

lions in Munster were near their termination. 
Sir William Pelham was suddenly recalled to 
Dublin, to surrender the sword of state to Ar¬ 
thur lord Grey, who had been appointed his 
successor, with peremptory orders to shorten 
the war by a vigorous prosecution of the rebels. 
Sir William, after leaving the command of the 
army in the South, now amounting to 3,000 
men, with Bourchier, a son of the earl of Bath, 
pursued his route to the capital by easy jour¬ 
neys; but, before his arrival, lord Grey, im¬ 
patient for action, had engaged in an enter- 
prize which was attended with no common 
disaster. Soon after his landing, he receiv¬ 
ed intelligence that lord Baltinglass, one of 
the Fitzgeralds, and Phelim M‘Hugh, the 
chieftain of the O'Byrnes, had taken their sta¬ 
tion in the valley of Glandelough, or the Seven 
Churches, in the county of Wicklow, from 
whence they committed terrible outrages on 
the surrounding country. He expressed his 
indignation that such an ignoble enemy should 
be permitted thus to set the royal government 
at defiance, within twenty-five miles of the 


1 ' 


254 BATTLE OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 

capital; and notwithstanding the wise remon¬ 
strances of some veteran officers by whom he 
was surrounded, he peremptorily commanded 
them to collect their companies, and drive these 
rebels from their retreat. They obeyed with 
an honourable submission, though sensible of 
the imminence of the danger, and marched 
boldly to the attack; but as they advanced 
they met with difficulties almost insuperable, 
being sunk at one time in the yielding soil, and 
at another forced to clamber over precipices 
which disordered their march. While thus 
pursuing their route through a marshy valley, 
winding irregularly between hills thickly wood¬ 
ed, they were thrown into disorder by a sud¬ 
den volley from an unseen enemy on either 
side, which was repeated with such terrible 
execution, that soldiers and officers fell in 
heaps without having any opportunity of dis¬ 
playing their valour. The shattered remnant 
with difficulty effected their retreat, and lord 
Grey, who, with the earl of Kildare, and Wing¬ 
field the engineer general, awaited the event 
oil a neighbouring eminence, accompanied them 


DEATH OF SIR FRANCIS COSBY. 


255 


to Dublin, covered with confusion and dis¬ 
grace. 

In this rash adventure fell Sir Peter Carew 
the younger, captains Audley and Moore, with 
Sir Francis Cosby, the general of the Irish 
kerns, for so our native foot-soldiers were at 
that time called. Sir Francis Cosby had been 
much distinguished in the wars of the Low 
Countries during the reign of Henry VIII. and 
afterwards married a daughter of protector So¬ 
merset. Having got a command in the army 
of Ireland, he defended the Pale with great 
bravery against the O’Mores of Leix, and was 
rewarded by queen Mary with the office of 
general of the Irish kerns. Elizabeth confer¬ 
red on him the authority of executing martial- 
law on all rebels at his own discretion, a privi¬ 
lege which, according to our Irish annalists, he 
exercised with so little clemency, that a gib¬ 
bet near his castle of Stradbally, in the Queen’s 
county, was rarely without a tenant. The 
hostility between his family and the O’Mores 
was kept up for many years after his death. 
In 1589, his successor Alexander was treacher- 


256 BATTLE OF STRADBALLY-BRIDGE. 

ously seized by Rory O’More at a conference, 
and bound to a tree, from which he was res¬ 
cued by some of his friends, after a sharp en¬ 
counter. This was fully avenged afterwards, 
as the knight put to death without mercy such 
of the insurgents as fell into his power. By 
his lady, who was a cousin of Sir Henry Sidney, 
and a favorite of queen Elizabeth, he obtained 
great tracts of land in the Queen’s County. 
She was a woman of masculine spirit, and her 
pride of family was such that she never assum¬ 
ed her husband’s name, but always signed 
‘ Dorcas Sidney.’ The whole of Sir Alexander 
Cosby’s life appears to have been passed in 
constant hostility with the insurgent O’Mores, 
which at length terminated fatally for him and 
his eldest son. On the 19th of May, 1596, 
Otterburn, a rebel chieftain, demanded a pas¬ 
sage over Stradbally-bridge, which being con¬ 
sidered by Cosby as a challenge, he resolved 
to oppose the passage. He accordingly, ac¬ 
companied by his eldest son Francis, who had 
lately married a lady of the Hartpole family, 
took post with his kerns at the bridge, while 


DEATH OF Sill ALEXANDER COSBY. 257 

Dorcas Sidney and her daughter-in-law seated 
themselves at a window of the abbey to see the 
fight. The O’Mores soon advanced with great 
intrepidity, and were resisted with equal brave¬ 
ry, till Sir Alexander Cosby was slain, when 
his kerns instantly gave way; and Francis, at¬ 
tempting to escape by leaping over the battle¬ 
ments of the bridge, Avas in the next moment 
shot dead. You might expect that the ladies at 
the window now became frantic with grief at 
the death of their husbands. But, no such 
thing; the widow of Francis turned to her mo¬ 
ther-in-law, and said with the greatest self- 
possession, Remember, mother, that my fa¬ 
ther was shot before my husband; and there¬ 
fore the latter became the legal possessor of the 
estate, and consequently I am entitled to my 
thirds or dowry.” The ladies now precipitated 
their flight, but they had scarcely left the ab¬ 
bey, when the O’Mores rushed in, murdered 
all the inmates that remained, and plundered 
the house of every thing valuable. William, 
the infant son of Francis Cosby, was secreted 
by his nurse, but dying soon after, he was sue- 


258 


SIEGE OF FORT DE l’OR. 


ceeded by his uncle Richard, who, in 1606, 
avenged the death of his father and brother, in 
a pitched battle which he fought with the 
O’Mores in the glen of Aughnahely, under the 
rock of Dunamase. Thus, in those unhappy 
times, was the spirit of vengeance transmitted 
from father to son, and the strife of contending 
parties continued from generation to generation! 

Lord Grey had scarcely recovered the shock 
of his late disgrace, when he received the 
alarming intelligence that the Spaniards, in the 
absence of admiral Winter, who had been 
driven from his station by boisterous weather, 
had landed seven hundred men at Smerwick, 
with five thousand stand of arms, and a large 
sum of money for the use of the insurgents in 
the south; that they instantly proceeded to 
complete Fort de I’Or, or the Golden Fort, 
which their countrymen had begun—and that 
they expected the speedy arrival of further suc¬ 
cours. The earl of Ormond, who commanded 
in Munster, marched against the invaders, who, 
terrified at his approach, suddenly abandoned 
their post, and retired, under the guidance of 


sill WALTER RALEIGH. 


259 


their Irish auxiliaries, to the wood of Glen- 
galt. But when they discovered the smallness 
of Ormond’s force, they recovered from their 
panic, and three hundred of them, with their 
commander, returned to the fort, from whence 
they made a successful sally, which compelled 
the earl, who had neither artillery nor provi¬ 
sions for a siege, to retire to Rathkeal, where he 
was soon after joined by lord Grey, with eight 
hundred veteran troops, under Sir Walter Ra¬ 
leigh and other distinguished commanders. 

Raleigh, who first taught the Irish the use 
of potatoes and tobacco, was the younger son 
af an ancient and respectable family in Devon¬ 
shire, and had acquired some celebrity at the 
university of Oxford, before his love for mili¬ 
tary glory induced him, at the age of seventeen, 
to join a band of volunteers, which his relative, 
Henry Champernon, led in 1569 to the aid 
of the French Protestants. In that country 
he served an apprenticeship of six years to 
the art of war, and subsequently accompanied 
the English forces, under Sir Henry Norris, to 
assist the Dutch. In 1579, a new kind of 


260 


MASSACRE Of THE SPANIARnS 


ambition seized the mind of this enterpriziitg 
youth : he attended that gallant navigator, Sir 
Humphry Gilbert, who was his half-brother, 
in his unfortunate expedition to Newfoundland, 
and after his return he joined the army about 
to proceed to Ireland under lord Grey, who 
brought with him, as his secretary, the not less 
celebrated Edmund Spenser, the poet. 

As admiral Winter had by this time return¬ 
ed to his station, the Golden Fort was now in¬ 
vested both by sea and land, and the foreign¬ 
ers were summoned to declare for what purpose 
they were sent, and why they presumed to 
erect fortifications in the queen’s dominions ? 
The Spanish governor boldly replied, that they 
were sent by the pope and the king of Spain, 
to extirpate heresy, and take possession of the 
country for king Philip, in whom the Holy Fa¬ 
ther had vested the sovereignty of Ireland, and 
they seconded this answer by a vigorous sally, 
which was, however, repulsed. Batteries were 
now raised against the fort; but before they 
began to play, the Spaniards were again sum¬ 
moned, with an offer of money if they surren- 


AT FORT DE l’oR. 


261 


dered 5 they still replied that they would main¬ 
tain their post, and endeavour to extend their 
conquests. A furious bombardment then com¬ 
menced, which so terrified the commander, 
San Joseppo, that he offered to capitulate ; 
but lord Grey haughtily replied, that he 
would grant no terms to traitors or their abet¬ 
ters, and continuing inexorable, the garrison 
was compelled to surrender at discretion.— 
They were instantly disarmed, and while the 
Irish in the fort were reserved for execution 
by martial-law, the Spaniards, with the excep¬ 
tion of their commander and a few ofiicers, 
were butchered on the spot in cold blood, by 
a party of soldiers, under the command of 
Sir Walter Raleigh ; who, it is said, was com¬ 
pelled to execute this horrible commission, 
on pain of being punished for disobedience. 
Queen Elizabeth is reported to have express¬ 
ed her displeasure at the barbarous execution ; 
but lord Grey attempted to justify the mea¬ 
sure, by saying that as the garrison could show 
no commission from the king of Spain or the 

p 3 


262 ALLEGED CONSPIRACY. 

pope, they were to be considered as only pri¬ 
vate adventurers, who could expect no advan¬ 
tage from the law of nations; that fifteen hun¬ 
dred Irish were approaching, and that no ship¬ 
ping was prepared for the reception of the pri¬ 
soners. 

The news of this invasion having excited the 
flame of insurrection in the other provinces, 
lord Grey, after demolishing Fort del’Or, left 
the conduct of the army in Munster to the earl 
of Ormond, captain Zouch being appointed 
governor of Kerry, and Sir Walter Raleigh to 
command in Cork. The lord deputy had no 
sooner arrived in the capital than he was alarm¬ 
ed with reports of a secret conspiracy against 
the government, in which were implicated the 
earl of Kildare, lord Delvin his son-in-law, 
and Nugent, a baron of the Exchequer. The 
latter, though a man of high character, was 
executed, notwithstanding his most solemn pro¬ 
testations of innocence, and the two former 
were sent to England, where, after a solemn 
investigation of the charges against them, they 
were acquitted of every suspicion of disloyalty. 


EXPLOITS OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 263 

while Grey’s administration was proved to be 
attended with such tyranny and barbarity, that 
little was left for the queen to reign over in 
Ireland but ashes and carcases. He was soon 
after recalled, and Loftus archbishop of Dublin, 
and Sir Henry Wallop, were appointed lords 
justices. 

Munster, in the mean time, was governed 
with rigour; and a watchful eye was kept on 
all the great lords of the English race, who still 
adhered to the Roman Catholic creed, and re¬ 
fused to furnish aid to the queen’s service. 
Hence arose many petty skirmishes and feats of 
arms, in which Sir Walter Raleigh proved him¬ 
self a distinguished partisan. Upon one occa¬ 
sion he was commissioned to seize the castle of 
Barry’s-court; but lord Barry having intima¬ 
tion of his approach, set it on fire, while the 
seneschal of Imokilly, set an ambush at a place 
called Chore-abbey, near Middleton, to sur¬ 
prize Raleigh on his return. The knight had 
with him only six horsemen and a guide, and 
having outridden his men, he arrived alone at 
a ford, where he was perceived by the se- 


264 EXPLOITS OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

neschal^ who put spurs to his horse, and cross¬ 
ed him in the water. Raleigh, however, gained 
the opposite hank ; but being forsaken by his 
guide, he was left alone, with his staff in one 
hand, and a cocked pistol in the other, in view 
of the seneschal and his party, who not ven¬ 
turing to attack him, the passage of his men 
was secured. 

Soon after this he routed David Barry, who 
was at the head of several hundred rebels near 
Cloyne; and lord Roche being suspected of 
corresponding with the insurgents, he was 
ordered to bring him and his lady to Cork. 
Raleigh set out at ten o’clock at night with 
ninety men : before morning he reached Bally- 
naharsa, the house of lord Roche ; and though 
live hundred of the neighbouring peasantry 
flew to arms at his approach, he obtained an 
entrance with six chosen men, while the rest 
of his party guarded the gates. He was re¬ 
ceived by his lordship with great hospitality ; 
but after dinner, Raleigh informed his host, 
that the painful duty was imposed upon him 
of conveying him and his lady to Cork. Roche, 


DEATH OF SIR JOHN DESMOND. 


265 


finding remonstrance fruitless, obeyed, and with 
his lady set out for Cork during a dreadfully 
tempestuous night, which proved fortunate for 
Raleigh’s small force, as his old friend the 
seneschal was thereby prevented from attack¬ 
ing him with a body of eight hundred men 
whom he had assembled for the purpose. Lord 
Roche, however, was honorably acquitted of 
the charges preferred against him, and after¬ 
wards distinguished himself as a loyal subject. 

In the beginning of 1581, the English gar¬ 
rison of Cork made a capture of much greater 
consequence. Zouch, the governor, having 
received intelligence that a quarrel had arisen 
between lord Barry and the seneschal of 
Imokilly, and that Sir John of Desmond was 
expected on a certain day at Barry’s camp to ^ 
reconcile them, left the care of Cork to Raleigh, 
while he, with captain Dowdall, set out with 
a party of soldiers for Castle Lyons. On their 
arrival, they posted their musketeers between 
a wood and a bog, and a few minutes after, 
they perceived two horsemen, who proved to 
be Sir John of Desmond, and Fitzgerald of 


266 


EXPLOITS OF LORD KERRY. 


Strancally. They were quickly surrounded and 
made prisoners; but not till Sir John, the base 
murderer of Henry Danvers, had been mortally 
wounded. He died on his way to Cork; but 
his body was hanged by the heels on a gibbet, 
and his head was sent to Dublin, and placed on 
the castle. Fitzgerald of Strancally was also 
executed; and Barry’s army being put to the 
rout, that chief was compelled to sue for 
pardon. 

This event appeared to have destroyed the 
last hope of the Munster insurgents; and the 
royal army of the south was in consequence re¬ 
duced to less than five hundred men. Lord 
Kerry, taking advantage of their weakness, 
attacked and captured the castle of Adare, and 
slew the greater part of the garrison; but a 
few who saved themselves in the abbey, after¬ 
wards recovered the fortress. He also took 
the strong castle of Lisconnel by stratagem, 
and threw its defenders over the walls ; but 
his career was checked by Zouch and Dowdall, 
who defeated him in the wood of Lisconnel, 
and compelled him to return to his allegiance. 


DESMOND IN THE WOOD OF KILQUAIG. 267 

The wretched Desmond was now reduced to 
the most dreadful extremities. His brothers 
had perished by the hands of their pursuers; 
and his adviser Saunders, the pope’s nuncio, 
the prime cause of all his misfortunes, after 
wandering for two years in the woods, a 
wretched fugitive, was found dead and mangled 
by beasts. In the beginning of 1582, the lords 
justices once more invited Desmond to return 
to his allegiance; but still unsubdued by his 
misfortunes, he is said to have impiously re¬ 
plied, ^ that he would rather forsake God than 
his men.’ He now wandered for many months 
in the woods of Limerick and Kerry, generally 
destitute of common necessaries, and often ex¬ 
periencing hair-breadth escapes. At the Christ¬ 
mas of this year he was lurking in the wood of 
Kilquaig, near Kilmallock, when his place of 
shelter was attacked by some soldiers, who 
slew his servants, and carried off some booty ; 
but he and his countess escaped almost naked, 
and saved themselves by standing up to the 
neck in a river under a bank till their pursuers 
had departed. In August, 1583, he was in 


268 


ASSASSlNAtlON OF 


tlie wood of A hal low with sixty of his gallow'- 
glasses or troopers, who, while cooking some 
horse-flesh, were suddenly attacked, and tlie 
greater part put to the sword ; their wretched 
master being indebted for his preservation to 
the fleetness of his horse. He now threw him¬ 
self on the protection of one Gowran M^Swiney; 
but he was soon deprived of this support, 
M^Swiney being slain while returning from a 
predatory excursion into Carbery. Kerry was 
his next place of refuge ; and here he lay con¬ 
cealed for some time, with a few trusty ser¬ 
vants, in a wood near Tralee, compelled to 
support himself and his followers at the ex¬ 
pense of the neighbouring peasantry. Among 
various depredations committed by them, some 
cattle were taken from a poor woman named 
Moriarty. She complained to her brother, who 
applied to the English governor of Castlemain 
for assistance. The governor granted him seven 
musketeers and twelve horsemen, under the 
command of one Kelly, an Irishman, who fol¬ 
lowed the track of the cattle, till they came to 
a wood four miles east of Tralee, where they 


THE EARL OF DESMOND. 


269 


resolved to take up their quarters for the night; 
but perceiving a fire not far off, they advanced 
towards it, and discovered six persons sitting 
in a ruined house. They all fled at the en¬ 
trance of the soldiers, except an old man, whom 
Kelly struck with his sword, and nearly cut off 
his arm; upon which his wretched victim ex¬ 
claimed, Spare my life! for I am the earl of 
Desmond.” But finding that the earl would 
be unable to travel from loss of blood, his exe¬ 
cutioner bade him prepare for death, and 
then struck off his head, which was sent to 
England, and fixed upon London bridge. 
Kelly was rewarded for this service with an 
annual pension of £20, but he was afterwards 
hanged at Tyburn. 

In this manner was terminated the turbulent 
career of Gerald the sixteenth earl of Desmond, 
who, by joining in an ill-concerted scheme of 
rebellion, in which he was unable to make one 
distinguished effort, deprived his posterity of 
those princely domains in which his family fiad, 
during four centuries, exercised all the rights of 
sovereignty. His prodigious estates in Cork, 


270 


CONFISCATIONS. 


Kerry, Limerick, and Waterford, extended one 
hundred and fifty miles, and contained five 
hundred and seventy-four thousand six hundred 
and twenty-eight acres, on which were numer¬ 
ous flourishing towns and strong castles. He 
was able to take the field with several thousand 
men ; and of his own kindred and surname he 
could reckon five hundred gentlemen. 

The complete suppression of the rebellion in 
Munster afforded the English government an op¬ 
portunity to model the country on liberal and 
equitable principles. But some of Elizabeth’s 
counsellors appear to have been actuated by a base 
jealousy of Irish prosperity; and they openly 
avowed their apprehensions in the English 
parliament, that if Ireland were reduced to 
order, and the wealth and consequence of the 
people increased, they would speedily cast 
themselves into the arms of some foreign power— 
a horrible system of policy, which was strongly 
reprobated both by Sir Henry Sidney and Sir 
John Perrot. The southern province was 
nearly depopulated by the late rebellion, and 
now exhibited a terrible spectacle of famine 


SIR JOHN PERROT LORD DEPUTV. 271 


and desolation. Desmond’s lands were to be 
parcelled out to new tenants; and various other 
regulations were contemplated, which required 
that the reins of government should be entrusted 
to a firm hand ; and the appointment of Sir 
John Perrot to the office of viceroy was hailed 
with joy by all classes of the inhabitants, so 
deeply were they impressed with a sense of 
the vigour, justice, and impartiality with which 
he had conducted his government of Munster. 

He commenced his administration in June 
1584, by publishing a general amnesty to all 
who would return to their allegiance; and he 
set out soon after on a tour to the different pro¬ 
vinces. In Connaught his presence intimidated 
the turbulent de Bourghos, and he placed the 
whole province under the presidency of Sir 
Richard Bingham. The Irish chieftains of 
Ulster crowded round the viceroy with the 
loudest professions of loyalty, and seven new 
counties were formed in that province. On 
his return to Dublin he assembled a parliament, 
at which some Irish lords and knights attended; 
and Sir John Perrot felt not a little pride that 


27^ periiot’8 parliament. 

he succeeded in persuading them to lay aside 
their national dress, and conform to the man¬ 
ners of the court. Yet they manifested con¬ 
siderable reluctance; and when Turlogh Ly- 
nogh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone, appeared in his 
old age, dressed in his fashionable habiliments, 
he expressed his discontent with a good hu¬ 
moured simplicity^^ Prithee, my lord,” said 
he to the viceroy, let my chaplain attend me 
in my Irish mantle, then shall your English 
rabble be diverted from my uncouth figure, and 
laugh at him.” The Irish lords of Thomond, 
Clancarthy, Inchiquin, and Upper Ossory, also 
attended this parliament ; and some of the 
members of the House of Commons belonged to 
the native families of O’Brien, O’Reilly, O’Far¬ 
rell, Mac Brien, and Mac Gennis. But this 
parliament was found to be far from obsequious 
to the views of the court; and after passing a 
bill of attainder against Eustace, lord Baltin- 
glass, who had lately fled to Spain, they were 
suddenly prorogued. 

As great alarm existed at this time of a 
foreign invasion, Sir John Perrot was called 


COMMOTIONS IN ULSTER. 


273 


into Ulster, by the arrival of a considerable 
force from Scotland, under Alexander Mac 
Donnel, the son of the famous Scotch chieftain 
Sorleboy. But before the arrival of the 
deputy these troops were totally defeated, and 
their captain executed as a traitor, as he had 
formerly sworn allegiance to the English go¬ 
vernment. Perrot had therefore only to receive 
submissions and hostages from those chieftains 
who were suspected of disaffection. Even the 
old Scottish chieftain Sorleboy attended, and 
renewed his engagements. Upon this occasion 
an Englishman had the mean brutality to insult 
the unhappy father on the late misfortune of 
his son, and to point exultingly to his head 
which was erected on a pole at no great dis¬ 
tance. The brave old Scot viewed the terrible 
spectacle with stern composure, and casting an 
indignant look upon his insulter, calmly said. 
My son hath many heads 
After the suppression of this commotion, the 
viceroy returned to Dublin, and immediately 
commenced the most praiseworthy efforts to 
procure the complete pacification of a country 


274 TURLOGH LYNOGH o’NEILL. 

which had suffered so much from turbulence 
and ill-government, by a policy at once vigorous, 
impartial, and benevolent. But his attempts at 
reformation soon raised for him a host of foes ; 
amongst whom Loftus, archbishop of Dublin 
and chancellor of Ireland, became eminently 
conspicuous, having been exasperated by some 
attempts of the lord deputy to convert the 
revenues of St. Patrick’s cathedral to the foun¬ 
dation of a university in the Irish capital. The 
most unwarrantable means were adopted by 
his enemies to effect his destruction, and 
amongst others, a letter was counterfeited and 
sent into England in the name of Turlogh, the 
old earl of Tyrone, complaining of grievous 
oppressions sustained from the viceroy; but the 
generous old chieftain instantly despatched a 
messenger to disavow the letter, and on the 
contrary to acknowledge with gratitude the 
rectitude of all his transactions, and numerous 
kindnesses received at his hands. A second 
forgery, which contained a protection to a 
Roman Catholic priest, in which Perrot is 
stated to have used the expressions, ^ our 


PLANTATION OF MUNSTER. 


275 


kingdom of Ireland, our castle of Dublin,’ was 
also transmitted to the court of Elizabeth, and 
appears to have produced a strong impression 
on the jealous mind of the queen, which was 
further strengthened by the communications of 
spies by whom the lord deputy was surrounded, 
who carefully noted every passionate expression 
into which he was hurried by the treatment he 
received. 

Yet this excellent chief governor, notwith¬ 
standing all the difficulties which he had to 
encounter, continued to exercise his high func¬ 
tions with zeal and fidelity. In the session of 
parliament which assembled in 1586, bills of 
attainder were passed against the late earl of 
Desmond and one hundred and forty of his 
adherents, and all their estates amounting to 
near six hundred thousand acres were declared 
forfeited to the queen. This enabled Elizabeth 
to accomplish her favorite project of establish¬ 
ing an English colony in Munster: these lands 
were accordingly divided into seignories of 
from twelve to four thousand acres each, for 
which the undertakers were to pay the annual 


276 


ADVANCEMENT OF 


rent of three pence per acre, settle upon them 
a prescribed number of English families, and 
furnish the state when required with a certain 
number of soldiers. Among the principal un¬ 
dertakers was Sir Walter Raleigh, who had 
made so distinguished a figure in the late civil 
wars of the south. A quarrel with lord Grey 
had retarded his promotion in Ireland, and 
when that nobleman was removed from the 
viceroyship, he followed him into England, and 
found means to have their dispute brought 
before the privy council. The talents and 
eloquence with which Raleigh pleaded his own 
cause upon this occasion, raised the admiration 
of his audience, and proved the means of intro¬ 
ducing him to the presence of the queen, in 
whose good graces he rose with extraordinary 
rapidity. He now became the frequent compa¬ 
nion of her majesty’s walks, and it is recorded 
that when upon one of these occasions she 
reached a miry spot, and stood in perplexity 
how to pass, Sir Walter, whose only fortune at 
that time consisted of a respectable wardrobe, 
adroitly pulled off his rich plush cloak, and 


SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 


277 


threw it on the ground to serve her for a foot- 
cloth. The queen graciously accepted this 
flattering attention, and it was afterwards 
wittily observed, that the spoiling of Raleigh’s 
cloak had gained him many good suits. It 
assisted in obtaining for him forty-two thousand 
acres of Desmond’s lands in Cork and Water¬ 
ford, including a great part of the town of 
Youghal, where he resided for some years, and 
planted the first potatoes that were grown in 
Ireland. The house which he inhabited still 
remains, and for a long period it was preserved 
in the same state in which it was left by its 
illustrious occupant. 

The late introduction of English law into 
Connaught began about this time to excite a 
very general disposition to rebellion in that 
province, through the turbulence of some de¬ 
generate branches of the de Bourgho family. 
Sir Richard Bingham, the president, with the 
newly appointed sheriffs, had resolved to punish 
every symptom of insubordination with the ut¬ 
most severity ; and in some counties they are 
said to have acted with a degree of arbitrary 


Q 


278 


HOSTILITIES IN CONNAUGHT. 


cruelty, which excited a very general aversion 
to the new system. Thomas Roe de Bourgho 
having refused to attend the sessions of Mayo, 
was ordered to be seized by Sir Richard Bing¬ 
ham. In resisting the order he was killed, and 
tw o of his adherents being taken, w'ere exe¬ 
cuted. This vigorous conduct of the president 
filling the whole sept of the de Bourghos with 
terror, they made such representations to Sir 
John Perrot, as called forth a censure on 
Bingham’s conduct. The de Bourghos were 
encouraged by this to new' acts of insubordina¬ 
tion; and while Bingham was employed in be¬ 
sieging the castle of Clanowen in Clare, which 
was defended by Mahon O’Brien, a noted out¬ 
law', they fortified themselves in the castle of 
Lough Mask, strongly situated on the borders 
of a lake in the county of Galway, and bade 
defiance to the power of the English. Bing¬ 
ham, after having taken Clanowen, and slain 
O’Brien, advanced to Lough Mask, upon which 
he made a fruitless assault by water, which 
was the only mode of access, several of his men 
and boats having perished in the attempt. The 


II0STII.IT1ES IN CONNAUGHT. 


279 


garrison, however, being apprehensive of a more 
powerful attack, abandoned the fortress, and 
Richard de Bourgho, one of their principal 
leaders surrendered himself to the president, 
who, contrary to the orders of tlie lord deputy, 
ordered him to instant execution. 

Sir John Perrot, irritated by the arbitrary 
proceedings of the president of Connaught, 
issued his mandate that he should grant pro¬ 
tection to all who submitted. Bingham obeyed, 
and then repaired to Dublin to give an account 
of his proceedings to the privy council. A 
violent altercation now took place between the 
deputy and the president, the former accusing 
the latter of injustice and oppression, while 
Bingham defended his own conduct by le 
plea of necessity. The opinion of the presi¬ 
dent received confirmation by the arrival of 
intelligence that the de Bourghos had throw n 
off their allegiance to the queen, declared for 
Spain and Rome, and commenced a new scene 
of outrage. Bingham being once more entrust¬ 
ed with the conduct of the war in this pro¬ 
vince, marched towards Ballinrobe, where he 


280 


HOSTILITIES IN CONNAUGHT. 


was joined by the earl of Clanrickard, lord 
Athenry, with O’Kelly and other Irish chief¬ 
tains. He first endeavoured by negociation to 
bring the de Bourghos back to their allegiance, 
but this proving fruitless, he executed their 
hostages which he held in his hands, and then 
pursuing them into their retreats, drove them 
in a few weeks to a state of desperation, from 
which, however, they were for a moment reco¬ 
vered by the junction of two thousand roving 
Scots, who landed on the coast of Sligo, These, 
with some forces brought to their assistance by 
Sir Arthur O’Neill and Hugh Maguire increas¬ 
ed their force to more than three thousand. 
Sir John Perrot, on receiving this alarming in¬ 
telligence, marched towards the western pro¬ 
vince; but before his arrival, Bingham, with 
the aid of some of the Irish clans, had attacked 
the enemy, destroyed two thousand of them, 
and thus terminated the rebellion in Connaught. 
General tranquillity appearing now to be esta¬ 
blished in the country, the English government 
was encouraged to withdraw a great part of the 
regular forces from Ireland, for the service of 


NATIVE MILITIA. 


281 


the Netherlands—a measure which obliged the 
lord-deputy to convert the natives, in many 
places, into a standing militia, by which they 
were instructed in the use of arms, and fitted 
to bear a prominent part in the transactions 
that will be recorded in the following chapter. 


282 


DISCONTENTS IN ULSTER. 


CHAPTER XI. 


Discontents in Ulster — Character of Hugh 
O'*Neill—He obtains the Earldom of Tyrone 
—■ Treacherous Seizure and Imprisonment of 
Red Hugh O'Dojinel—Recal and Death of 
Sir John Per rot—Sir William Fitzwilliam^ 
Eord Deputy — The Spanish Armada — 
Wrecks on the Irish Coast—Kind reception of 
the Spaniards by the Natives — O'Ruarc and 
Don Antonio de Leva—Avarice and Cruelty 
of the Viceroy — Tyrone's Dissimulation — 
Unjust Execution of Hugh Mac Mahon — Es¬ 
cape and perilous Adventures of Red Hugh 
O'Donnel — Tyrone's Outrages—Sir William 
Russel^ LordDeputy-Maguire of Fermanagh 
—Action atSciath-na-Feart—Death of Arch¬ 
bishop Magawran—Exploits of O'Donnel — 
Siege of Enniskillen—Action at the Ford of 
Biscuits — Devastation of Connaught — Ty¬ 
rone commencesHostilities-Sieges of Portmor 



DISCONTENTS IN ULSTER. 


283 


and the Castle of Monaghan—Sir John Nor¬ 
ris—Hattie at the Pass of Cluain-Tibhin — 
Terrible Conflict between Tyrone and Sed- 
grave—Conference and Armistice with Ty¬ 
rone and G'Donnel—Kenewal of Hostilities — 
Action at Killoter—Capture of Armagh by 
a singular Stratagem — Temporary submis¬ 
sion of the Ulster Chieftains—Sir Conyers 
Clifford^ President of Connaught—Death of 
Sir John Norris—Thomas Lord Borough^ 
Lord Deputy—Fresh Hostilities—Defeat of 
Sir Conyers Clifford at TirreVs Pass — Ex¬ 
ploits of O'Donnel in Connaught—The Vice¬ 
roy defeats Tyrone near Armagh—Death of 
Lord Borough and the young Earl of Kildare 
— Tyrone"*s Conference with the Earl of Or¬ 
mond—Sir Henry Bagnal marched to the 
relief of Portmor—Surprise of Tyrone's 
Camp—Battle of the Yellow Ford—Death 
of Field Marshal Bagnal^ and decisive 
Defeat of the Royal Army. 


The late introduction of the English polity 
into the province of Ulster was speedily pro¬ 
ductive of alarming commotions, through the 


284 


HUGH o’neill. 


tyrannical proceedings of the sheriffs and other 
officers of the newly-formed counties. Sir John 
Perrot being unable to send any forces for the 
maintenance of tranquillity in this quarter, the 
Irish lords became less cautious in expressing 
their abhorrence of the English government, to 
which they were now encouraged by the vast 
preparations making in Spain for the invasion of 
England. Among these stood conspicuous Hugh 
O’Neill, the son of that Matthew, who, though 
the illegitimate son of Con Baccaghy earl of 
Tyrone, had been created lord Dungannon by 
Henry VIII. Hugh O’Neill was a man of no 
common order, and had times or circumstances 
proved equally propitious, he might have stood 
in the same rank with some of our most cele¬ 
brated military leaders. He had entered early 
in life into the service of Elizabeth, and com¬ 
manded a troop of horse during the hostilities 
in Munster, being admirably fitted by nature 
for desultory warfare and hazardous exploits. 
He possessed a vigour of constitution capable 
of enduring the severest privations. He was 
brave, vigilant, and temperate, and with these 


EARL OF TYRONE, 


285 


advantages were united great acuteness of in¬ 
tellect which had been improved by a liberal 
education, the most polished manners, and un¬ 
remitting industry. Yet he was such a com¬ 
plete master of the art of dissimulation, that 
among his own people he could completely 
conceal this refinement, and assume all the bar¬ 
barous manners of his ancestors. 

Hugh O’Neill had petitioned the Irish par¬ 
liament during its late session that he might be 
restored to the title of earl of Tyrone, with the 
inheritance annexed to it, in virtue of the grant 
to his grandfather earl Con, to his father and 
his heirs. The title was readily granted ; but 
the inheritance having been forfeited to the 
crown, by the attainder of the late John O’Neill, 
the claimant was referred to the queen, and 
Sir John Perrot furnished him with strong let¬ 
ters of recommendation to the English court. 
Thus prepared, he set out for London, in 1587, 
when his insinuating manners and apparent at¬ 
tachment to the English government so wrought 
on Elizabeth, that she granted him the earldom 
and the whole inheritance of Tyrone, with the 


286 


Tyrone’s policy. 


exception of two hundred and forty acres on the 
river Blackwater, for the use of a fort which 
she had ordered to be erected in that quarter: 
some stipulations were also made in favour of 
the sons of John and Turlogh O’Neill. 

As the new earl of Tyrone was now considered 
the firmest friend of government in the North, 
he was authorized to keep six companies con¬ 
stantly on foot to repress any attempt at insur¬ 
rection. This permission greatly forwarded the 
design he contemplated, as when he trained 
them to military evolutions, he dismissed them 
and levied others in their place, by which means 
he soon taught the use of arms to all his vassals, 
and under pretence of roofing a castle which he 
was building at Dungannon, he imported a 
considerable quantity of lead ; but he took care 
to reserve it for a very ditferent purpose. He 
at the same time used every art to extend his 
influence over the neighbouring Irish lords, and 
all who opposed his proceedings felt the weight 
of his power. Maguire and MacMahon made 
loud complaints to the lord deputy of O’Neill's 
tyrannical conduct, which were transmitted to 


THE CHIEFTAIN OF TYRCONNEL. 287 

the queen; but before the government could 
come to a decision on this point, its attention 
was directed to the punishment of another 
powerful malcontent. 

Intelligence was received in Dublin that 
O’Donnel, the chief of Tyrconnel, had re¬ 
fused to admit the queen’s sheriff into his dis¬ 
trict, and that he was carrying on a secret 
negociation with the Island Scots. This news 
threw the council into great consternation, as 
they were now destitute of troops to assert 
their authority. But Sir John Perrot quieted 
their apprehensions by assuring them that if 
they left the affair to his discretion, he would 
secure the person of either O’Donnel or his 
son with little expense to her majesty, and 
this he accomplished by means which tarnished 
the upright character which he had hitherto 
sustained, and proved ultimately extremely in¬ 
jurious to the English interests in Ulster. The 
lord deputy is supposed to have been urged to 
this dishonorable act by the jealousy which the 
government entertained of the extraordinary 
qualifications of Hugh Roe, or Red Hugh 


288 


ADVENTURES OF 


O’Donnel, the presumptive heir of Tyrconnel. 
Though still a youth in his sixteenth year^ he 
had already manifested great independence of 
character, and a decided aversion to the 
English dominion: he possessed a vigorous 
constitution, great courage, and literary talents 
of no ordinary description; and these qualities 
together with the beauty of his person had 
rendered him an object of very general admira¬ 
tion throughout Ireland. 

About Michaelmas, 1587, the captain of a 
ship laden with Spanish wines contracted with 
Sir JohnPerrotto execute his project of seizing 
young O’Donnel, and he accordingly sailed 
for Lough Swilly^ where he soon cast anchor 
off the castle of Dundonald, which was the 
residence of an Irish lord named Mac Sweeny, 
The wily captain immediately sent some of his 
crew to the castle with samples of the wine, 
which they distributed so freely to the inmates 
of the fortress that they soon became intoxi¬ 
cated. During this carouse Red Hugh with 
some of his young friends paid a visit to Mac 
Sweeny, who anxious to display his hospitality 


RED HUGH o’dONNEL. 


289 


to the son of his chief, sent a messenger to the 
ship to purchase a quantity of the wine. The 
captain, under some pretext, declined to sell it 
at that time, but politely incited Mac Sweeny 
and his guests to an entertainment on board his 
vessel, which the natural curiosity of Red Hugh 
and his young associates prompted them to ac¬ 
cept. Accompanied by Mac Sweeny, the 
unsuspecting victims went on board, and being 
received in the cabin by their treacherous host, 
with the greatest apparent cordiality, wine and 
other strong liquors were placed before them : 
but in the midst of their hilarity their arms 
were stolen away, and when they awoke from 
the effects of their excess, they found themselves 
prisoners. Rejoicing in the success of his stra¬ 
tagem, the captain instantly set sail for Dublin, 
where he arrived in safety with his captives ; 
and Red Hugh, after a long examination before 
the council, was sent loaded with irons, to a 
tower in the castle, where he remained a close 
prisoner for several years. 

This was the last act of Perrot’s government, 
for he soon after solicited and obtained his 

R 


290 


llECAL AND DEATH OF 


recall. However dishonorable the seizure of 
young O’Donnel may appear, it did not alien¬ 
ate from the lord deputy the affections of the 
natives : before his departure he summoned to 
court all those Irish lords whom he suspected 
of favouring a foreign enemy, and prevailed on 
them to give hostages to government for their 
loyalintentions; and he presented the mayor and 
citizens of Dublin with a silver cup gilt, bear¬ 
ing the motto, In pace relinquo (I leave you 
in peace ;) and after delivering the sword of 
state to his successor, Sir William Fitzwilliam, 
he said, that now, though a private man, he 
would engage to bring in any suspected leader, 
within twenty days, without violence or contest. 
He was accompanied to the water-side by an 
immense multitude, who bemoaned his departure 
with loud lamentations; among them old Tur- 
logh Lynogh O’Neill was observed to shed 
many tears ; and a guard of the citizens attended 
him to his residence at Carew Castle in Pem¬ 
brokeshire. But Perrot’s reception at the court 
of Elizabeth w’as very different. He was com¬ 
mitted to the Tower, and afterwards found 


SIR JOHN PERROT. 


291 


guilty on a variety of charges, none of which 
were proved, except one, which accused him 
of uttering disrespectful words of the queen. 
Elizabeth, however, refused to sign a warrant 
for the execution of her reputed brother; but 
he lay in prison till he died about six months 
after his condemnation. 

The year 1588 has become memorable in 
British history, for the defeat and destruction 
of the famous Spanish Armada, fitted out by 
king Philip to enforce the spiritual thunders 
of Rome against Elizabeth, which declared the 
throne of the schismatic princess forfeited, and 
the king of Spain the rightful heir of the house 
of Lancaster. The high-spirited queen did not 
wait till this^ mighty armament should reach 
her shores, but in 1587 she sent a fleet of thirty 
sail to the coast of Spain, under that distin¬ 
guished commander Sir Francis Drake, who 
destroyed above one hundred storeships in 
the harbour of Cadiz, and on his return cap¬ 
tured a rich Indian carack, which amply re¬ 
paid all the expenses of the expedition. Drake 
justly boasted that he had shiged king Philip's 

R 2 


292 


THE SPANISH ARMADA. 


whiskers ; for his success so crippled the design, 
that it had to be deferred for another year. 
Elizabeth employed this interval in the most 
vigorous preparations to meet the terrible dan¬ 
ger which menaced her dominions, and she was 
nobly seconded by her people. The English 
navy at that time consisted of only twenty- 
eight ships, not one of which exceeded the 
bulk of a large frigate ; but the zeal of the no¬ 
bility and merchants supplied this deficiency at 
their own charge, the city of London alone 
furnishing thirty ships and ten thousand men. 
The queen gave the command of her fleet to 
lord Howard of Effingham, having under him 
Sir Francis Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, 
the most renowned seamen, of Europe in that 
day. As England was then also without a re¬ 
gular army, similar exertions were used to raise 
land forces; and in an incredibly short space of 
time more than eighty thousand men were 
levied, a great part of whom were stationed on 
the southern coast, while a body of 23,000 
formed a camp at Tilbury, to defend the capi¬ 
tal ; and here the heroic princess frequently ap- 


THK SPANISH Armada. 


293 


peared on horseback in the midst of her sol- 
dierSj to animate them bj her presence and 
eloquence to the defence of their country and 
religion. 

The grand Spanish Armada was ready for sea 
early in the month of May, and consisted of 
more than one hundred and fifty vessels, some 
of very large size, commanded by the duke of 
Medina Sidonia. It had on board above thirty 
thousand sailors and soldiers, with two thou¬ 
sand six hundred and thirty pieces of brass 
cannon; and on arriving off the Flemish coast, 
the duke of Parma had instructions to join it 
w ith all his forces, and then it was expected 
that England would become an easy conquest. 
But the Spanish fleet had scarcely set sail from 
the port of Lisbon, when it was assailed by a 
furious tempest, which sunk some of the ships 
and forced the rest to take shelter in the 
Groyne. After refitting they again set sail, 
and in a few' days appeared off Plymouth.—^ 
When lord Howard with the English fleet got 
out of port, he soon descried his formida¬ 
ble antagonists advancing towards him in the 


294 


the SPANISH armada. 


form of a cresent, which extended to the dis¬ 
tance of seven miles from one extremity to the 
other; hut the English admiral adopted the 
most judicious plan of combat with an enemy so 
greatly his superior, and after capturing two 
of their great ships, he kept up a running fight 
with them till they gained the French coast, 
and cast anchor before Calais. Lord Howard 
now sent some fireships among them, by which 
the Spaniards were so alarmed, that they cut 
their cables and dispersed, and in the con¬ 
fusion the English captured or destroyed twelve 
of their ships. 

The duke of Medina perceiving that his 
hopes of success were now at an end, resolved 
to return homewards ; but as the wind opposed 
his passage through the channel, he w as forced 
to sail northwards, make a tour of Britain, and 
endeavour to reach his own harbour by the 
ocean. Want of ammunition prevented the 
English admiral from following him, and pro¬ 
bably compelling the whole armament to sur¬ 
render. But the elements proved almost equally 
destructive to this ill-fated expedition, for if 


o’ruarc of breffney. 


295 


was overtaken by a second violent tempest 
after it had passed the Orkneys, which drove 
many of the ships on the coasts of Scotland and 
Ireland, where they were miserably wrecked, 
and it is calculated that scarcely half of the 
grand Armada returned to Spain. 

Seventeen of these unfortunate vessels, con¬ 
taining upwards of five thousand men, were 
driven on shore in various parts of Ireland.— 
One of these called Our Lady of the Rosary, 
a ship of 1000 tons, foundered off the Blas- 
quets on the coast of Kerry, and in her perish¬ 
ed more than six hundred men, amongst whom 
was the prince of Ascule, Don Pedro, the king 
of Spain’s natural son, and many other persons 
of distinction. On the coast of Ulster and 
Connaught, those Spaniards who escaped the 
fury of the seas were received by the Irish 
who regarded them as their kinsmen, with the 
most cordial hospitality; and Hugh O’Neill, 
earl of Tyrone, while he still avowed his loyalty 
to the Irish government, was strongly suspected 
of making secret arrangements with them re¬ 
specting a future invasion. O’Ruarc of Breff- 


296 - 


ARBITRARY GOVERNMENT OF 


fipy avowed his attachment to-their cause more 
openly, for when Don Antonio de Leva was 
east on his territory with a thousand Spaniards, 
he not only gave him cordial entertainment, 
but urged him to remain in the country and 
declare war against Elizabeth, assuring him that 
thousands of the Irish would join his standard. 
De Leva, however, told him that he-should first 
return to Spain, to obtain a commission for the 
enterprfze from his royal master. But even in 
sight of the Irish shore the ship foundered, and 
De Leva, with his whole crew perished.— 
O’Ruarc finding himself abandoned to the 
vengeance of the government, fled to Scot¬ 
land, but the influence of Elizabeth was then 
so powerful at that court, that he was delivered 
up to the English, and executed in London as 
a traitor. 

Rumours were now circulated, that the Spa¬ 
niards had left behind them vast treasures in 
those parts of the country where they had been 
entertained. This fired the cupidity of the 
lord deputy, who immediately issued a commis¬ 
sion to search out, and secure the property for 


SIR WILLIAM FITZWILLIAM. 


297 


the queen; but this proving ineffectual, he pro¬ 
ceeded to Connaught in June 1589, summoned 
to his presence all who were charged with giv¬ 
ing refuge to the Spaniards, and compelled them 
to deliver up these unfortunate men, with all 
the property that belonged to them. Many of 
these miserable captives were beheaded at Gal¬ 
way by order of Fitzvvilliam, who soon after 
returned to Dublin, without obtaining that 
treasure which had been the main object of 
his journey. A similar expedition to Ulster, 
was attended with no other result than the 
seizure of Sir Owen O’Toole, father-in-law of 
the earl of Tyrone, and Sir John O’Dogherty, 
who were considered as two of the best affected 
of the Northern leaders. But it was reported 
that they had possessed themselves of a con¬ 
siderable portion of the Spanish treasure, and 
this afforded the avaricious viceroy a sufficient 
pretext for consigning them to a prison, where 
the former lay till he was reduced to the point 
of death, and the latter after a rigorous incar¬ 
ceration of two year’s continuance, purchased 

R 3 


298 


TYRONE AT THE 


his enlargement with a considerable sum of 
money. 

These arbitrary proceedings of the lord de¬ 
puty, while they made the loyal Irish appre¬ 
hensive for their own safety, confirmed the 
disaffected in their inveterate hatred of the 
government. The wily Tyrone, however, still 
found it necessary to dissemble, and trusting 
to the influence he had gained at the English 
court, he once more repaired to London, cast 
himself at the feet of Elizabeth, and renewed 
his assurances of attachment and fidelity in the 
most ample form; agreeing to find securities, 
and deliver hostages to tVie lord deputy of Ire¬ 
land, for his future loyal and peaceable conduct. 
So satisfied were the English courtiers of his 
sincerity, that the earl of Ormond, and Sir 
Christopher Hatton, Elizabeth’s chancellor, be¬ 
came his securities; and when, immediately 
after the conclusion of this accommodation, a 
charge of treasonable correspondence w ith Spain 
was preferred against him by Hugh Ne-Gave- 
locke, a natural son of the late John O’Neill, 
Tyrone with great adroitness, persuaded the 


COURT OF ELIZABETH. 


299 


council, that his accuser was instigated by the 
most violent malice towards him, on account of 
his loyal attachment to the queen, and for his 
having advised the suppression of the name of 
O’Neill. The charge was dismissed with con¬ 
tempt, and Tyrone permitted to return to Ire¬ 
land : he soon, however, found pretexts for elud¬ 
ing the execution of those promises which he 
had made so liberally before the English council. 

In 1591 another act of the lord deputy tend¬ 
ed still further to alienate the affections of the 
Ulster Irish from the government. Mac Mahon, 
the chieftain of Monaghan, had surrendered his 
territory to the queen, and received a re-grant 
thereof under the broad seal of England, and in 
default of heirs male the lands were to pass, 
after his decease, to his brother Hugh. The 
chieftain dying without issue, his brother 
claimed the inheritance, and as in those unhap¬ 
py times few suits could be gained without a 
bribe, he is said to have promised a considera- 
. ble sum. Being, however, unable to fulfil his 
engagement he was committed to prison in Dub¬ 
lin : but he was released after a few days con- 


300 EXECUTION OF HUGH MAC MAHON. 

finement, and the deputy was prevailed on to 
promise that he would speedily go to Mona¬ 
ghan, and give him possession of his patrimony. 
Yet Fitzwilliam had no sooner arrived in that 
country, than he eagerly received an accusation 
against Mac Mahon, that two years before he 
had entered a neighbouring district with force 
of arms, to recover rent which was due to him. 
Though such proceedings were then quite com¬ 
mon in the unreformed parts of Ireland, yet a 
recent English law had declared them capital 
offences; and on this law, enacted after the 
alleged commission of the crime, the unhappy 
Mac Mahon was brought to trial beforea jury said 
to be composed of private soldiers, and execut¬ 
ed in two days ; white his large estate was dis¬ 
tributed among Sir Henry Bagnal, some other 
adventurers,' and four of the old Irish sept! 
Some of the northern chieftains were so enraged 
at this horrible act of tyranny and injustice, 
that they refused to admit sheriffs or other 
officers of the crown into their respective coun- 
tiesj and when Fitzwilliam intimated to Ma¬ 
guire, the lord of Fermanagh, that he intended 


ESCAPE OF RED HUGH O’dONNEE, 301 


to send a sheriff into his district, the chief 
replied with ’well-affected simplicity—Your 
sheriff shall be welcome : but let me know his 
eric, that if my people should cut off his head, 
I may levy it upon the country.” 

In the midst of this confusion Red Hush 
O’Do nnel contrived to escape from the cas¬ 
tle of Dublin, where he had been kept in 
rigorous confinement for four years. Tow'ards 
the close of 1591, he, with some of his fellow- 
prisoners, had found means to get off their 
fetters, and by the aid of a rope, to descend 
from the top of the tower in which they were 
immured upon the drawbridge which was then 
attached to the castle. They escaped, and di¬ 
recting their course to the mountains of Wick¬ 
low, reached Fassaroe, (the Red Moun¬ 
tain) before morning. Beyond this poor Red 
Hugh was unable to proceed, as his old shoes 
had fallen from his feet, which were terribly 
bruised by the rough stones and briars of the 
mountains over w hich he had travelled during 
the preceding night. Here his companions 
were, for their own security, obliged to leave 


302 ESCAPE OF RED HUGH O’dONNEL. 


him, but a faithful servant who had assisted in 
his escape, was sent to a gentleman in the 
neighbourhood, named Phelim O’Toole, to 
claim his protection. O’Toole had been his 
fellow-prisoner in the castle of Dublin, and be¬ 
fore his liberation he and O’Donnel had given 
mutual pledges to assist each other whenever 
they had the power; but having now made 
peace with the government, he forgot all his 
promises, and instead of affording Red Hugh 
the aid he required, he seized the unfortunate 
youth, and sent him back to the lord depu¬ 
ty, by whom he was again loaded with 
chains, and subjected to a still more rigorous 
confinement. 

But his first failure did not deter Red Hugh 
from making another effort to escape. By 
means of a rope which was procured by his 
faithful servant Turlogh Biiid/ie (or YelloAv) 
O’Hogan, he, and Henry and Arthur, the 
sons of the late John O’Neill, let themselves 
down through the funnel of the privy in the 
wall of the tower, into the Poddle, which river 
enclosed the castle on that side. They pro- 


ESCAPE OF RED HUGH o’dONNEE. 


303 


ceeded towards the mountains, with the view 
of reaching Glen Molawr, the strong hold of 
Feagh Mac Hugh O’Byrne, who was then in 
arms against the government. During the 
night, which was dark and tempestuous, 
with heavy drifts of snow, Henry O’Neill 
was unfortunately’ separated from his com¬ 
panions, and his brother Arthur being hea¬ 
vy and corpulent, became at length unable to 
proceed. Red Hugh, determined not to for¬ 
sake his friend in this extremity, took shelter 
with him under a projecting rock, while he 
sent his servant to Glen Molawr to inform 
O’Byrne of their situation. The insurgent 
chief instantly sent some of his followers to 
their relief with clothes and refreshment : but 
when they reached the spot, they found them 
with difficulty, as the snow had completely 
covered them. Arthur O’Neill was dead, and 
young O’Donnel so exhausted, that O’Byrne’s 
men had to carry him to the glen, where he 
remained a considerable time without being 
able to travel, his feet having been so severely 
frost-bitten, that he lost the use of his two 


304 ESCAPE OF RED HUGH o’dONNEL. 

great toes, which he uever afterwards reco¬ 
vered. 

When, at length, he was able to ride. Red 
Hugh and his faithful servant O’Hogan were 
conveyed across the Lilfey by a troop of 
O’Byrne’s horse, although the bridges and fords 
were strictly guarded by the English. They 
crossed the Boyne near Drogheda in a fisher¬ 
man’s boat, and passing through Dundalk at 
full gallop soon reached Dungannon, where 
they were privately entertained for four days 
and nights by the earl of Tyrone. His next 
place of refuge was the house of his half bro¬ 
ther Hugh Maguire on the borders of Lough 
Erne, from whence he ultimately arrived in 
safety at the castle of Athseanaigh (now Bally- 
shannon) the princely residence of his father. 
The escape of Red Hugh was hailed as a tri¬ 
umph by all the clans of the O’Donnels, who on 
the 3d ofMay solemnly inaugurated him as their 
chief, and he soon displayed both talents and 
inclination to take vengeance for his recent suf¬ 
ferings. The English were expelled from Do¬ 
negal ; Turlogh Lynogh O’Neill was forced to 


Tyrone’s outrages. 


305 


renounce his connexion with thenij and a mes¬ 
senger was despatched to the king of Spain, to 
solicit his aid, while a number of Scotch mer¬ 
cenaries were engaged to assist O’Donnel in the 
execution of his design. 

Red Hugh having about this time married a 
daughter of the earl of Tyrone, that chief again 
became suspected, and these suspicions were 
increased by a variety of other circumstances. 
He had lately avenged himself on his accuser 
Hugh Ne Gavelocke by seizing and consign¬ 
ing him to the executioner; and when the 
state expressed its alarm at this presumptuous 
act of violence, he pleaded that he had only 
executed his power of martial law on a noto¬ 
rious traitor. Turlogh O’Neill complained of 
his outrages, and Sir Henry Bagnal accused 
him of seducing the affections of his sister, and 
marrying her while his first wife was living. 
But this grand dissembler found plausible rea¬ 
sons for all his proceedings, and thus he replied 
to their several charges, viz.—he had consented 
to the alliance with O’Donnel to keep him in 
his allegiance! — the outrages committed on 


306 TYRONE’S dissimulation. 

Turlogh O’Neill were Ihe consequence of his 
ov>^n violence ; and with regard to Sir Henry 
Bagnal’s accusation, he said, that so far from 
seducing his sister, she had freely consented to 
become his wife, and he was at full liberty to 
accept her, as he had been regularly divorced 
from his former consort. He, in turn, accused 
Sir Henry Bagnal, his brother-in-law, with 
usurping greater authority in Ulster than he was 
entitled to ; but intimated, at the same time 
that he wished to be reconciled to him, that 
they might cordially unite their influence in the 
service of the government. To give a greater 
air of sincerity to these loyal and peaceful pro¬ 
fessions, he allowed his territory to be formed 
into an English county, Dungannon being ap¬ 
pointed the shire-tow n. 

I have thus detailed to you the course of dis¬ 
simulation practised by Hugh earl of Tyrone, 
while he was consolidating his plans for that 
rebellion which has had so powerful an influence 
on our subsequent history, and proved him to be 
one of the most extraordinary characters both 
as a negociator and warrior, that our island has 


MAGUIRE LORD OF FERMANAGH. 


307 


ever produced. But a variety of circumstances 
which occurred in the year 1593 and 1594 com¬ 
pelled him to throw off the cloak of loyalty 
which he had worn for so many years, and com¬ 
mence that important enterprise that he had 
been so long meditating. 

o o 

About the commencement of 1593, a captain 
Willis was appointed by the lord deputy to be 
sheriff of Fermanagh, and he proceeded, in the 
manner too common at that period, to spoil the 
wretched inhabitants with a numerous and rapa¬ 
cious train of followers, which so provoked Ma¬ 
guire, the chieftain of that territory, that he 
attacked Willis and his attendants, drove them 
into a church, and would have put them all to 
the sword had not Tyrone persuaded him to set 
them at liberty. This act the earl took care to 
display advantageously to the English council, 
and he soon after had a fresh opportunity of exhi¬ 
biting his pretended loyalty to the government. 
I say pretended^ because it is acknowledged 
even by writers most partial to this singular 
man, that he kept up all this time a secret cor¬ 
respondence with the insurgent chieftains. 


308 


BATTLE OF SCIATH-NA-FEAUT. 


Sir William Fitzwilliam having solicited his 
dismissal from the Irish government early in 
1594, was succeeded by Sir William Russel, a 
son of the earl of Bedford. The English forces 
were at this time actively employed against 
Maguire, who had been declared a traitor. 
Doctor Magauran, the Roman Catholic prelate 
of Armagh, resided principally at the house of 
this chieftain, and having been lately appointed 
the pope’s envoy to the Irish, for the purpose of 
animating their exertions in the cause of reli¬ 
gion, had instigated Maguire to excite some 
commotions in Connaught, whither this war¬ 
like prelate accompanied him. But the expe¬ 
dition proved unfortunate, as Maguire’s forces 
w ere met on a misty morning at a place called 
Sciath-na-Feart, by a corps of Sir Richard 
Bingham’s army, commanded by Sir William 
Guelfort. Owing to the haze the cavalry on 
both sides unexpectedly met front to front, 
when Maguire instantly transfixed Guelfort with 
a spear, and slew him on the spot. Nearly at 
the same moment some British^horsemen rush¬ 
ing on the archbishop and his attendants, the 


309 


SIEGE OF ENNISKILLEN. 

prelate shared a similar fate with that of the 
English commander, and Maguire deemed it 
prudent to retire within his own territory. 

Sir Henry Bagnal being now ordered to pur¬ 
sue Maguire into Fermanagh, the earl of Tyrone 
attended his standard with all the alacrity of a 
faithful subject, and distinguished himself with 
such zeal, that in one of the subsequent actions 
he received a wound in the thigh ; but he soon 
after withdrew from the camp, and took no 
further part in these hostilities. Maguire hav¬ 
ing been defeated near Lough Erne, Bagnal got 
possession of the castle of Enniskillen, in which 
he placed a strong garrison; but no sooner had 
the English army retired than young O’Donnel 
invested the fortress, and continued the siege 
from June to August, when he was suddenly 
called off by the arrival of his Scotch auxilia¬ 
ries in Lough Foyle. During his absence the 
English again advanced to relieve the castle, 
but they met such a decisive defeat, that they 
were compelled to abandon all their ba ggage 
and provisions, among which there was such a 
quantity of biscuits, that the scene of action 


310 


EXPLOITS OF 


was from this circumstance denominated the 
Ford of Biscuits, The garrison of the castle 
surrendered soon after, and were butchered 
without mercy, the conquerors pleading as their 
excuse that the English captors had set them 
the example by treating the Irish garrison of 
the fort in the same manner. 

These successes encouraged the enterprising 
O’Donnel to make frequent inroads into Con¬ 
naught in the following spring, during which 
he razed several castles, and committed terrible 
depredations on the English settlers ; and elud¬ 
ing every attempt of Sir Richard Bingham to 
intercept him, returned to his own country 
with a great booty of cattle and treasure. In 
these excursions he found most efficient sup¬ 
port from six hundred Scottish auxiliaries under 
Mac Leod of Arra. 

The English government now becoming justly 
alarmed at these violent proceedings, deter¬ 
mined on sending three thousand additional 
troops to Ireland, under the command of Sir 
John Norris, a highly distinguished leader. 
It was also declared that a chain of forts should 


TYRONE AND o’dONNEL. 


311 


be formed round the territory of the disaffected 
lords of Ulster, so as to keep them in awe, and 
effectually restrain their predatory expeditions. 
Tyrone had hitherto waited for foreign aid be¬ 
fore he came to an open rupture with the go¬ 
vernment, but he now conceived it necessary to 
throw off the mask, lest the hopes of the disaf¬ 
fected should be completely crushed by the 
projected measures. He accordingly entered 
into an alliance, early in 1695, with the various 
branches of the O’Neills, O’Donnels, Maguires, 
Magenisses, Mac Donnels, and O’Cahans, 
and was appointed commander-In-chief of their 
united forces. Emboldened by this union, Ty¬ 
rone, though now in his 58th year, commenced 
hostilities with all the vigour of youth. He 
attacked and stormed the fort of Portmor 
built on the verge of the Blackwater, and after 
razing it to the ground, proceeded, with the 
aid of Mac Mahon and Maguire, to lay siege 
to the castle of Monaghan. He at the same 
time sent fresh emissaries to Spain, requiring 
assistance, and sought, though in vain, to de¬ 
tach the earl of Kildare from his allegiance. 


312 


SIR JOHN NORIllS. 


While engaged in these treasonable proceed¬ 
ings, he despatched letters to the lord deputy 
professing the most loyal attachment to the 
crown. But Bagnal, his vigilant enemy, in¬ 
tercepted those letters, and having advanced 
from Newry to the relief of Monaghan at the 
head of eighteen hundred men, forced his 
way, after a conflict of three hours, through a 
narrow pass which was defended by Tyrone in 
person, and compelled the insurgents to raise the 
siege of the castle of Monaghan. He then 
reinforced and revictualled the fortress ; but on 
his return to Newry he was suddenly attacked 
by nine thousand of Tyrone’s troops, yet he 
effected his retreat with the loss of twenty 
killed and ninety wounded, while three hun¬ 
dred of the Irish are said to have fallen in the 
conflict. 

A considerable force having been collected 
at Dundalk, Russel, the lord deputy, accom¬ 
panied by Sir John Norris, advanced against 
the insurgents on the 24th of June, O’Molloy 
and O’Hanlon, two Irish chieftains, alternately 
bearing the viceroy’s standard. The English 


BATTLE OF CLUAIN-TIBIIIN. 


313 


marched through Armagh, hi which they placed 
a strong garrison, and reached Monaghan on 
the 3d of July. Tyrone, after having set fire 
to Dungannon, retired before the royal army to 
his inaccessible haunts, and the viceroy in a few 
days returned to Dublin. But he had scarcely 
retired when Tyrone and O’Donnel again in¬ 
vested the castle : Sir John Norris advanced a 
second time to its relief, and an action ensued 
which was distinguished by some feats of valour 
which have been rarely surpassed. The Eng¬ 
lish endeavoured to force the pass of Cluain- 
Tibhin, which was surrounded by deep mo¬ 
rasses, and bravely defended by the Irish. In 
this gallant attempt the English general had 
his horse shot under him, and both he and his 
brother were wounded. Sedgrave, a native of 
Meath, an officer of great bodily strength and 
distinguished heroism, now rushed impetuously 
forward at the head of a troop of cavalry, and 
made good his passage across the ford. Tyrone 
met him in mid career, and the spears of the 
two champions were shivered on their armour. 
But Sedgrave, with desperate valour, seized the 


s 


314 CONFLICT BETWEEN TYRONE AND SEDGRAVE. 


earl by the neck and dragged him from his 
horse, while Tyrone, at the same time, firmly 
grasping his adversary, the warriors fell strug¬ 
gling to the earth. The earl being undermost, 
his fate was considered decided, but he fortu¬ 
nately found means to thrust his dagger into 
Sedgrave’s groin, under his armour, which killed 
him in a moment, and the English retired in 
dismay from the conflict. 

The government alarmed at the boldness and 
success of the insurgent chiefs, had now the 
weakness to propose a negociation with them ; 
and commissioners were appointed to hear their 
complaints, and receive from them any over¬ 
tures that might lead to an accommodation. 
As Tyrone and O’Donnel refused to risque 
their persons in any walled town, the parties 
met in an open field, where the former com¬ 
plained of the injustice with which Bagnal had 
treated him, in encroaching upon his just rights, 
and his implacable resentment in attempting to 
separate him from his wife, who had now sunk 
under his cruelty. He demanded a free par¬ 
don for himself and his followers, with the full 


NEGOCIATIONS. 


315 


exercise of their religion—that his country 
should be freed from English garrisons and 
sheriffs, and all who had ravaged his territory 
should be compelled to make restitution— 
O’Donnel complained of his long imprisonment 
and other injuries, while each inferior chieftain 
had his grievances to urge. The commission¬ 
ers acknowledged some of their allegations to be 
just, but on the material points no decision 
could be made until the queen’s pleasure should 
be known. In the mean time, the commission¬ 
ers demanded that the insurgents should lay 
down their arms, admit sherifls into tlieir ter¬ 
ritories, repair the forts they had demolished, 
and discover upon oath their transactions with 
foreign princes. But the Irish lords rejected 
these terms Avith disdain, and the conference 
broke up after agreeing to a suspension of 
hostilities till the 1st of January, 1596. 

Soon after the expiration of the truce, Ty¬ 
rone made a grand effort to regain Armagh, and 
Avith that object he attacked a considerable 
body of Norris’s army, which was stationed at 
the church of Killoter. Tliey were forced to 


316 


ARMAGH RECAPTURED 


give way to the desperate valour of the Irish, 
and after losing many of their number, they fled 
through Armagh to Dundalk, having left a gar¬ 
rison of five hundred men under captain Staf¬ 
ford for the defence of the former place. Ty¬ 
rone being now master of the surroundino- 
•country, took the most eflectual means to cut off 
all communication between Armagh and the 
English army, by which the garrison soon 
became a prey to famine and disease. Sir John 
Norris made an attempt to relieve the city by 
forwarding a quantity of provisions from Dun¬ 
dalk, under an escort of a squadron of horse 
and three companies of foot: but through the 
vigilance of Tyrone the escort was defeated 
and captured with the whole convoy, and the 
chieftain stripping the British soldiers, equip¬ 
ped an equal number of his own men in their 
uniforms. He placed one half of these under 
Con O’Neill, in the vaults of a ruined monastery 
which was situated eastward of the city ; and 
with the remainder he appeared at dawn of 
day in full view of the garrison. A sham fight 
soon commenced between those who were 


iiY STRATAGEM. 


317 


dressed in the English uniform and another 
body of the Irish army, the men on each side 
firing their muskets which were charged only 
w'ith powder, and many of the soldiers fell to 
the ground as if struck by the shot of their 
antagonists. Completely deceived by this stra¬ 
tagem, Stafford sent forth half his garrison to 
the assistance of his supposed countrymen; 
but when the English advanced to the con¬ 
flict, they suddenly found themselves assailed 
by the troops whom they had been so eager to 
succour, as well as by Tyrone’s forces; and in 
the midst of their confusion Con O’Neill sprang 
forth with his corps from the old monastery, 
and the whole party thus attacked in front and 
rear were put to the sword in the very view of 
the garrison. Stafford was so weakened by this 
disaster, that he surrendered the city on being 
permitted to retire to Dundalk. 

The success of the northern insurgents now 
fanned the flame of rebellion in all the other 
provinces. 7’he disaffected in Munster began 
to display a turbulent disposition, and the 
Irish chieftains of Leinster extended their 

s 2 


318 


SIR WILLIAM RUSSELL. 


outrages from Wexford to the very gates of the 
capital. But, next to Ulster, Connaught, through 
the never-ceasing activity of Red Hugh O’Don- 
nel, was now the principal seat of insurrec¬ 
tion. In the month of May, he received in 
great state, at Lifford, Don Alonzo Copis, an 
emissary from the king of Spain, by whom he 
wrote letters to that monarch, intreating spee¬ 
dy succours of men, arms, and stores to deliver 
them from the yoke of their English oppressors. 
Hearing, soon after, that Sir John Norris, aided 
by the earls of Tbomond and Clanrickard, was 
assembling a powerful force on the frontiers of 
Connaught, he suddenly marched his troops 
into that province, and being joined by many of 
the chieftains with their forces, he encamped 
in the neighbourhood of the royal army, which 
soon found it prudent to retreat. 

The English general now marched with the 
lord deputy into Ulster, with a force so power¬ 
ful, that Tyrone was obliged to abandon his 
conquests, and retire to his fastnesses, whither 
the devastated state of the country did not per- 


PRETENDED SUBMISSIONS. 


319 


mit the viceroy to pursue him ; and after plac¬ 
ing fresh garrisons in Armagh and Monaghan, 
and condemning Tyrone and his principal asso¬ 
ciates as traitors, he left Sir John Norris on the 
borders to watch the motions of the rebels. 
Want of provisions and the approach of winter, 
as well as the non-appearance of succours 
from Spain, induced Tyrone once more to 
resort to his old arts of dissimulation, and 
he sent letters of penitence and submission 
both to the queen and Sir John Norris. The 
English general had long wished to act with 
moderation towards the insurgent lords, and the 
queen was anxious to settle the affairs of Ire¬ 
land on any reasonable terms. She now grant¬ 
ed a commission to Sir John Norris and Sir 
Geoffry Fenton, her Irish Secretary of State, 
to grant pardon to all rebels who should, with 
due humility, seek her royal mercy: Tyrone, 
O’Donnel, Maguire, and many others of their 
confederates, accordingly appeared at Dundalk, 
and submitted to the terms which they had 
formerly rejected, and a promise of pardon 
was delivered to each lord. 


320 


CAPTURE OF LOSMAGE CASTLE. 


The northern war appearing now at an end, 
Sir William Russel and Norris marched into 
Connaught to suppress the commotions of that 
province. The mal-contents retired before the 
royal forces, and every castle surrendered on 
the first summons, except that of Losmage be¬ 
longing to O’Madden, who valorously replied, 
that he wmuld not surrender, though the whole 
English army were lord deputies. But this 
foolish boast was punished by storming the 
castle, and putting the whole garrison to the 
sword. Such loud complaints were made by 
the chieftains who submitted, of the tyrannical 
conduct of Sir Richard Bingham the president, 
that indignant at those charges, he repaired to 
England without license to justify himself before 
the queen. He was, however, committed to 
prison, and Sir Conyers Clififord appointed to 
succeed him : yet he afterwards so com¬ 
pletely disproved the accusations that were 
brought against him, that he was restored to 
favour, and employed by the government. 

While the disaffected lords of Connaught 
were thus reserving their strength for a more 


FRESH ATTEMPTS AT NEGOCIATION. 


321 


favourable opportunity, the arrival of a few 
vessels from Spain on the northern coast with 
a supply of ammunition and some encouraging 
letters from the king, rendered Tyrone and his 
associates ashamed of their late concessions, 
and they found various pretexts for evading the 
treaty. But they still continued to amuse the 
government with professions of the most duti¬ 
ful loyalty, while they were rousing by their 
emissaries the other provinces to action, and 
training to arms the conflux of men which 
poured into their territories from every quar¬ 
ter of the kingdom. In these proceedings 
they were encouraged by the evident weakness 
of the government in proposing another con¬ 
ference, at which Meyler Magrath archbishop 
of Cashel, and Thomas earl of Ormond, were 
appoined to act as the queen’s commissioners. 
But Tyrone and his confederates, as on a former 
occasion, refused to attend the commissioners 
in a walled town, and thus the project ter¬ 
minated. 

The imperious Elizabeth now became ter¬ 
ribly provoked at the continuance of this ha- 


322 


THOMAS LORD BOROUGH. 


rassiug war; and through the Instigation of the 
earl of Essex, she was led to cast much of the 
blame of its ill success on the brave Sir John 
Norris, of whom her favorite was the avowed 
enemy and rival. He was in consequence ab¬ 
ruptly dismissed to his government of Munster, 
where his noble spirit sunk under the disgrace 
in two months, when he expired in the arms of 
his brother. Sir William Russel being recalled 
about the same time, the whole authority of 
the state both civil and military w'as committed 
to Thomas lord Borough, a nobleman esteemed 
as possessing considerable vigour and talents 
for war. 

This viceroy entered on his government with 
the determination of an active prosecution of 
the rebels. He accordingly marched into Ulster 
in June 1597 w ith a considerable army, Henry 
earl of Kildare, and other lords of the Pale 
attending his standard w ith their followers ; 
while Sir Conyers Clifford was ordered to march 
from Connaught with seventeen hundred men, 
and meet him at the Black-water. Tyrone 
apprised of these intended movements, detached 


ACTION AT TIRREl’s PASS. 323 

live hundred men into Leinster to excite his 
friends in that quarter to intercept Clitford on 
ids march. The command of this body was 
entrusted to an officer named Tirrel, who, 
though of English origin, was a zealous Roman 
Catholic, and firmly attached to the Irish.— 
Sir Conyers Clifford, having entered Westmeath, 
detached young Barnwell, a son of lord Trim- 
bleston, against him, at the head of a thousand 
men from Mullingar; but the Irish commander, 
aware of their approach, appeared to fly before 
them, and having gained a defile concealed with 
trees, (since called Tirrel’s Pass) he detached 
half of his little army, under lieutenant O’Con¬ 
nor, a skilful and gallant soldier, who posted 
his men in ambuscade in a hollow ground near 
the road over which the English troops were to 
march. Barnwell, eager in the pursuit, had 
scarcely passed his concealed enemies, when 
O’Connor rushed out on his rear with a tre¬ 
mendous noise of drums and bagpipes, which 
was the signal agreed upon by Tirrel, who 
immediately returned to the conflict; and the 
English thus placed between two fires, are said 


324 


EXPLOITS or o’donnel. 


to have been entirely cut off, with the excep¬ 
tion of their commander who was taken priso¬ 
ner, and one private soldier who escaped 
through a marsh. Our Irish historians tell us 
that O’Connor exhibited great personal prowess 
in this action, and that his hand was so swollen 
with incessant muscular action, that it could 
not be removed from the guard of his sabre 
until the steel was separated with a file ! Sir 
Conyers Clifford was now compelled to retreat 
with the scanty remnant of his forces, but this 
movement he effected with consummate skill in 
the presence of an army three times his num¬ 
ber. 

In the meantime the enterprising O’Donnel 
had created a powerful diversion in Connaught. 
Having collected his forces early in spring, he 
laid siege to Athenry, which he took by esca¬ 
lade and then set fire to the town, after having 
first secured a great booty of arms, clothing and 
ammunition. lie afterwards marched towards 
Galway, devastating the whole country in his 
route. But here he met such a determined 
resistance that he was compelled to retire, hav- 


CAPTURE OF PORTMOR. 


325 


ing first set fire to the eastern suburbs of the 
town. He bad many actions with the royal 
forces in Connaught during this summer, in one 
of which Murrogh O’Brien, lord Inchiquin, 
was killed by a musket ball. 

But the defeat of Clifford and the untoward 
events in Connaught did not deter the lord 
deputy from marching into Ulster, which was 
now with the exception of some strong castles 
entirely in the hands of the rebels. On ap¬ 
proaching Armagh he found Tyrone’s army 
strongly intrenched in a narrow pass, but lord 
Borough attacked him with such vigour, that 
the Irish chieftain, after a brave resistance, was 
driven from his position, and the lord deputy 
now marching through Armagh, carried the 
strong fort of Portmor on the river Blackw^ater 
by assault. During these events Tyrone’s 
troops lay concealed in the adjoining woods, 
and while lordr Borough and his army were 
engaged in returning thanks to God for their 
recent success, the Irish were perceived de¬ 
scending a neighbouring hill in considerable 
force. Henry earl of Kildare was detached 


326 


DEATH OF THE VICEROY AND 


against them ^vith a division of the royal army. 
He attacked and repulsed them with the great¬ 
est bravery; but two of his foster brothers 
being slain while rescuing him from the hands 
of the enemy, this brave and generous young 
nobleman was so afflicted by the event, that he 
died a few days after lamenting their premature 
death. Nor did the lord deputy long survive 
him, for being suddenly taken ill, he returned 
towards Dublin, but expired before he reached 
the capital. 

Such are the circumstances attending the fall 
of these illustrious men as related by the Eng¬ 
lish writers, from which the accounts of our 
Irish historians materially differ. They tell us 
that after lord Ilorough had crossed the Black- 
water, his further progress was checked by a 
body of Irish troops under Cormac and Art 
O’Neill, which were posted on the left bankol 
the river, on the road to Benburb, while Tyrone 
himself with James McDonnell of the Glinnes. 
occupied the position of Tibhir-Masain ; thal 
the deputy in attempting to force his waj 
through these two corps, was mortally wound- 


THfi EAKL OF KILDARE. 


327 


ed—that Kildare, on whom the command of 
the royal forces devolved, with his foster-bro¬ 
thers, met a similar fate, and that the English 
were completely routed. Whatever may have 
been the'true state of the case, it is clear that 
Tyrone retained all the advantages which he pos¬ 
sessed at the opening of the campaign, with 
the exception of the fort on the Black water. 

Loftus archbishop of Dublin, and Sir Robert 
Gardiner, the chief justice, were now appoint¬ 
ed lords justices, while the command of the 
army was entrusted to the earl of Ormond. 
The state of Leinster had become, by this 
time, so alarming, that Ormond could not quit 
that province; Sir Henry Bagnal was, there¬ 
fore, commissioned to watch the movements of 
the northern insurgents. The wily Tyrone 
resorted once more to his old artifice, and soli¬ 
cited a suspension of hostilities. He affected 
extraordinary satisfaction at the high authority 
committed to the earl of Ormond, from whom 
be expected the regards of a countryman, and 
implored his interposition with the queen in 
favour of a repentant offender, whose foul re- 


328 


SIEGE OF PORTMOR 


lapses could not indeed be justified, but were 
palliated by the numerous wrongs which he had 
sustained. The earl of Ormond having procur¬ 
ed a commission to treat with him, a cessation 
of arms was agreed upon for two months; and 
after a tedious negociation, the necessity or 
weakness of the English government caused 
them to grant him a free pardon on his own 
terms. But learning soon after that speedy as¬ 
sistance might be expected from Spain, he once 
more, under various pretexts, eluded the fulfil¬ 
ment of his promises, and Instead of’pleading 
his pardon, he re-commenced hostilities in the 
summer of 1598, and in conjunction with 
O’Donnel attempted to carry the fort of Port- 
mor by escalade. But the brave garrison pre¬ 
cipitated the first assailants headlong from the 
ramparts, and exhibited such a determination 
to resist to the uttermost, that Tyrone was 
forced to change the siege into a blockade. 
He occupied all the avenues by which provi¬ 
sions could be thrown either into that place or 
Armagh; yet the besieged, animated by the 
heroic example and exhortations of Williams, 


FIELD MARSHAL BAGNAL. 


329 


their governor, refused to yield, though they 
were at length compelled to live on the flesh of 
their horses, and the wild herbs that grew in 
the ditches that surrounded the fort. 

Field-marshal Bagnal was now ordered to 
march with a considerable force to the relief of 
Portnior and Armagh ; and the desertion of Con 
O’Neill, Tyrone’s illegitimate son, to the Eng¬ 
lish, favoured the design. Through his guid¬ 
ance Armagh was victualled by a large division 
of Bagnal’s troops, who marched by an unfre¬ 
quented road; and encouraged by this success, 
the English proceeded in the following night, 
accompanied by the deserter, to Tyrone’s en¬ 
campment, where they surprised and slew the 
earl’s advanced guard, and the great chieftain 
himself was not apprised of his danger till they 
burst into his tent, from whence he escaped 
in his shirt. But before day-break he re-as¬ 
sembled his troops, order was restored in the 
camp, and his adversaries retired. 

Bagnal’s army was now strongly reinforced, 
and he was ordered to relieve the fort of Port- 
mor at every risk. He accordingly proceeded 


330 


BATTLE OF 


in the month of August towards the Blackwa- 
ter at the head of four thousand five hundred 
foot, and four hundred horse. Nor was Tyrone 
unprepared to meet the man whom he consi¬ 
dered his deadly foe, the junction of his asso¬ 
ciates O’Donnel, Maguire, and Mac William 
Bourke, having increased his forces to more 
than five thousand men, while no means were 
neglected to inspire the Irish army with an 
enthusiastic determination to defend what they 
were taught to consider the cause of their coun¬ 
try. 

As this battle proved one of the most impor¬ 
tant that had taken place since the EnglisVi 
invasion, and displayed more military skill than 
usual on both sides, I shall be somewhat parti¬ 
cular in its description. On the lOth of Au¬ 
gust the royal army marched from Armagh be¬ 
fore sunrise with the sound of martial music, 
the wings being formed of musketeers and 
cavalry, and the centre of spearmen, disposed 
in three corps. They passed unmolested till 
about seven o’clock, when they entered a narrow 
})ass vvhich contained some trees and thickets. 


THE YELLOW FORD. 


331 


where Tyrone had posted five hundred light 
armed infantry, who kept up a well-directed 
fire on the English, by which many of them 
perished. But Bagnal forced his way through 
the pass with great gallantry, and reached an 
extensive plain, on which the Irish camp 
Avas situated. At the extremity of this plain 
Tyrone had dug pit-falls and trenches which 
were covered with a netw ork of w attles, and 
the surface carefully strewed with heibage. 
Into these many of the English cuirassiers, 
while rushing forward unconscious of danger, 
were precipitated, and dreadfully maimed.; and 
scarcely had they reformed their ranks, when 
they Avere assailed by a host of Tyrone’s light 
troops who Avere armed w ith pikes tenor tAvelve 
fe( t in length, for Avhich the shorter spears 
of the English cavalry were by no means a 
match. Yet the gallant Bagnal fought his 
way through all these difficulties till he came 
AAithin a short distance of the Irish camp, 
where new obstacles presented themselves. 
Here the plain was skirted on one side by a 
marsh, on the other by a moor and a wood. 




332 


BATTLE OF 


wbicli thus narrowed it to a strait. Across 
this strait Tyrone had thrown up a rampart 
four feet high, and sunk a fosse of considerable 
depth. Water from the marshes flowed in the 
front, and hence the place w as called Beal na 
ath Buidhe^ ‘ the mouth of the Yellow Ford.’ 

To surmount this obstruction, the English 
commander made the most desperate efforts; 
but in the very tempest of the fight, a quantity 
of gunpowder accidentally took fire, which 
blew many of his bravest men to atoms. Yet 
notwithstanding this disaster, he succeeded 
by a heavy cannonade in levelling a part of the 
rampart, through which two strong divisions 
burst into the level ground, and attacked the 
right and left wings of the Irish under Tyrone 
and O’Donnel. Bagnal advanced to support 
them at the head of the reserve; but at the 
moment when he considered the victory his 
own, he unfortunately raised his beaver that he 
might have a better view of the fight, and a 
musket-ball entering his forehead, he fell dead 
to the earth. This terrible event threw his 
division into immediate confusion, and though 


THE YELLOW FORD. 


:533 


the other corps continued the conflict with the 
greatest bravery, the English army was ulti¬ 
mately routed, with the loss of thirteen supe¬ 
rior ofiicers, and above fifteen hundred soldiers, 
all their artillery, ammunition, and provisions, 
thirty-four stand of colours, and the military 
chest, containing twelve thousand pieces of 
gold. Tyrone acknowledged the loss of his 
army to have amounted to eight hundred killed 
and wounded. 

O’Reilly, a gallant Irish auxiliary of the 
English, lost his life in endeavouring to cover 
the retreat of the remnant of the royal troops, 
who were at length conducted to Armagh by 
the bravery and address of Montague, the com¬ 
mander of the cavalry ; but they were forced 
to abandon it in the night by Terence O’Han¬ 
lon, at the head of the Irish horse, and the city 
with the fort of Portmor immediately surren¬ 
dered to the victorious Tyrone. 


334 


INSURRECTION IN LEINSTER 


CHAPTER XII. 


Effects of Tyrone's Victory—Insurrection in 
Eeinster and Munster—Rory O'More — 
The Sugan Earl of Desmo7id—Robert Earl 
of Essex Lord Lieutenant—Action at the 
Pass of Pliunes—Defeat of the Royal Foj'ces 
by O'Byrne of Wicklow—Vigorous Hostilities 
of Red Hugh O'Donnel—Battle at the Cur¬ 
lew Mountains—Death of Sir Conyers Clif¬ 
ford — Conference near Dundalk between 
Essex and Tyrone—Discontent of the Queen 
atid the English Council—Fall of Essex-— 
Tyrone's Manifesto—His visit to Munster— 
Death of Sir Thomas Norris and Sir War- 
ham St. Leger—Charles Lord Mountjoy 
Lord Lieutenant—Sir George Carew Presi¬ 
dent of Munster—Vigor of the new Viceroy 
—Tyrone escapes into Ulster—Capture oj 
the Earl of Ormond by Rory O'More—Sir 
Hetiry Dockzcra captures Derry—Action at 



AND MUNSTER. 


335 


ihe Moyry Pass—Insurrection in Leinster 
—Death of O'More—Affairs of Munster — 
Florence Mac Arthy—Action near Kins ale — 
The Presidents March to Limerick — Sur¬ 
render of the Castle of Lough-Gur—Attempt 
of Dermod O'Connor to seize the Karl of 
Desmond—Siege of Glin Castle—Kxploits 
of Maurice Stack—Capture of the Castle of 
Lixnaw—Murder of Maurice Stack—The 
Titular Karl a fugitive—Lord James Fitz¬ 
gerald restored to the Karldom of Desmond 
—His reception at Kilmallock — Death of 
Dermod O'Connor—Sir Charles IVilmot — 
Siege of Listozvel—Singular preservation 
of Lord Kerry's Son—Submission of the 
Munster Rebels—Seizure of the Titular 
Karf 


The decisive victory gained by the earl of 
Tyrone caused the flame of insurrection to 
spread from province to province, and the il¬ 
lustrious O’Neill was every where hailed as the 
deliverer of his country. All the chiefs of 
Ulster and Connaught declared for him; and 
the Irish septs of Leinster now renewed their 


336 


THESUGAN EARL OF DESMOND. 


outrages in full fury, and bade defiance to the 
English government. Rory O’More, after re¬ 
gaining possession of the Queen’s County 
(Leix,) his ancient patrimony, burst into Mun¬ 
ster at the head of four thousand men, and was 
speedily joined by the lords Kerry, Mount- 
garret, Fermoy, Cahir, the Knight of the Val¬ 
ley, the White Knight, with all the Geraldines 
and others who had forfeited their lands by 
Desmond’s rebellion ; and as the only son of 
that unfortunate lord was now in the hands of 
the queen, his nephew James was invested by 
the mal-contents v/ith all the titles and estates 
of his family, and he was designated by the 
English through the whole of the subsequent 
insurrection in the south the Sugan earl, (that 
is, earl of straw^') or pretending earl of Des¬ 
mond. These honors and privileges he stipu¬ 
lated to hold of THE O’Neill, as Tyrone, hav¬ 
ing assumed his ancient title_, was now empha¬ 
tically called. There was at this time no force in 
Munster to resist the progress of the rebels. 
Sir Walter Raleigh and the other great under¬ 
takers having sold or abandoned the lands 


ALARM OF THE GOVERNMENT. 


337 


which had been granted to them : sir Thomas 
Norris, the president, was consequently forced 
to shut himself up in Cork, and the whole pro¬ 
vince became a wide theatre of crime and de¬ 
vastation. Of the few English settlers that re¬ 
mained, the men were butchered without mercy, 
and the women subjected to the brutaf violence 
of undisciplined troops, infuriated at once by 
religious zeal and political animosity. 

The fearful progress of the rebellion in Ire¬ 
land now raised just apprehensions in the Eng¬ 
lish government for the security of their autho¬ 
rity in the country. Eor five years Tyrone 
had maintained his ground against their ablest 
generals and bravest troops, and his recent 
unexpected success had thrown the whole king¬ 
dom into a ferment. Intelligence was also re¬ 
ceived that the king of Spain was preparing a 
fresh invasion of England, with forty thousand 
men, while twelve thousand of his troops were 
destined for the assistance of the insurgent 
Irish. It was therefore resolved to use no 
longer temporizing expedients, but to send a 
formidable army under an experienced general, 


338 


ROBERT EAIIL OF ESSEX. 


into Ireland, and thus at once to crush the 
hopes both of their foreign and domestic ene¬ 
mies. Twenty thousand men were allotted for 
this service ; the choice of a commander was, 
however, for some time debated in the council. 
The queen recommended sir Charles Blount, 
lord Mountjoy, for the important office ; but 
this was warmly opposed by her prime favorite, 
and Monntjoy’s personal rival, Robert earl of 
Essex, who argued that the retired and studious 
habits of that nobleman were ill calculated for a 
course of vigour and activity. It soon appeared 
that the aspiring favorite, who had already dis-. 
played his military talents in Spain and Ame¬ 
rica, sought the dangerous post of pre-eminence 
for himself; and both his friends and enemies 
had different motives for gu'atifying his wish. 
He was appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland 
with authority civil and military beyond that 
of most of his predecessors; and he landed at 
Dublin in all the pomp of a military hero on the 
15th of April 1599. 

The insurgents, far from being intimidated 
at these preparations for their overthrow. 


ACTION AT THE PASS OF PLUMES. 339 


made use of them as a stimulus to inspire their 
countrymen vrith fresh resolution in defence of 
their rights and liberties. Nor did the com¬ 
mencement of the new viceroy’s administration 
suggest any fears that they had much to dread 
from his exertions. Instead of marching in full 
force to the North, as he had been directed, 
and inflicting a severe blow on the insurgents 
in that grand focus of the rebellion, he pro¬ 
ceeded towards Munster at the instigation of 
some of his privy counsellors, who were deeply 
interested in the newly planted lands of that 
province. In passing through Leinster, the 
vigilant O’More fell upon his rear, killed se¬ 
veral of his officers and men, and took from his 
gay soldiers such a quantity of feathers, that 
the Irish facetiously called the scene of the 
action. The Pass of Plumes. After spending 
ten days in the siege, he captured the castle of 
Cahir, and then marched through Munster with¬ 
out opposition, the rebels retiring every where 
at his approach. 

While Essex was thus making a useless dis¬ 
play of his force in a country where no enemy 


340 SUCCESS OF o’bYRNE of WICKLOW. 

would meet him, Tyrone was making active 
preparations for a vigorous campaign. Having 
obtained a supply of ammunition from Spain, 
and received some Scottish mercenaries into his 
service, he assembled an army of more than ten 
thousand men, part of whom he posted at the 
passes of Lough Foyle and Bally shannon, and 
placed' the remainder in an intrenched camp 
between Newry and Dundalk. The English 
government now began to express great dissa¬ 
tisfaction at the conduct of the viceroy, which 
was augmented by intelligence of the shameful 
defeat of six hundred of the royal forces by 
O’Byrne of Wicklow. Essex vented his rage 
on the unfortunate survivors by executing an 
Irish lieutenant, cashiering the officers, and 
putting every tenth soldier to death. He now 
received a sharp rebuke from the queen for his 
southern expedition, with peremptory orders to 
proceed to Ulster. He requested a reinforce¬ 
ment of two thousand men, which being granted 
to him, he commenced his march for the north¬ 
ern province. 

He had previously issued orders to Sir 


, EXPLOITS OF o’dONNEL. 341 

Conyers Clifford, the lord president of Con¬ 
naught, to march towards Beleek, with all the 
forces he could collect, and make a diversion 
on that side. But Clifford found an insupera¬ 
ble obstacle to all his plans in the unremitting 
vigilance of Red Hugh O’Donnel, who after 
having spent the spring of this year in ravaging 
Thomond, was now besieging O’Connor Sligo, 
in the castle of Culmine. Clifford was ordered 
to make every possible effort to relieve the castle 
by land, while Theobald ny Lung Bourke, son of 
the celebrated Grace O’Maley, proceeded with 
a squadron of ships from Galway carrying mi¬ 
litary stores for the use of the besieged. When 
O’Donnel heard of these preparations he left 
the conduct of the siege to his kinsman Neill 
Garbh O’Donnel, while with the remainder of 
his array, lie took post in the Curlew mountains, 
and here he continued for two months w atching 
liis destined prey. The march of the English 
was at length announced, and as a battle was 
inevitable, O’Donnel, on the preceding evening 
addressed an inspiriting harangue to his troops, 
in which he advised them as the best prepara- 


342 ACTION AT THR CURLEW MOUNTAINS. 

tiou for death to go to confession, and in the 
morning to receive the sacrament. Their de¬ 
votions had scarcely ended when the English 
amounting to seventeen hundred men, appeared 
in sight, and their advanced guard had but just 
entered the mountains when O’Rourke, a dis¬ 
tinguished Irish leader, sprung from an ambush 
at the head of two hundred men, and attacked 
them with such fury that one hundred and 
twenty fell at the first onset, amongst whom 
was the gallant and humane Sir Conyers 
Clifford. Intimidated by the loss of their 
leader, the royal forces instantly abandoned the 
field; the castle of Culmine soon after sub¬ 
mitted, and the terror of Red Hugh O’Donnel 
extended from Sligo to Loop’s head. 

The loss in this action was trifling, but the 
moral influence which it had on the Enelish 

o 

soldiers and their Irish auxiliaries was incalcu¬ 
lable, and the desertions became so numerous, 
that when Essex arrived on the borders of 
Ulster, he could not muster four thousand men. 
Yet inferior as his forces were to Tyrone’s 
army, the Irish chieftain was unwilling again to 


CONFERENCE BETWEEN ESSEX AND TYRONE. 343 

try the fate of battle, till the arrival of the 
powerful succours which had been promised by 
Spain. lie had, therefore, recourse to his old 
artifices for protracting the war, and prevailed 
on the lord lieutenant to grant him a conference, 
assuring his lordship that he was ready to cast 
himself on the queen’s mercy. A ford in the 
neighbourhood of Dundalk was the place ap¬ 
pointed for the parley, and when Essex appeared 
on the bank of the river with all the dignity of 
a superior, Tyrone plunged into the stream up 
to his horse’s saddle, as if anxious to throw 
himself at the feet of the viceroy. They main¬ 
tained a private conversation for some time, in 
which the romantic Essex is said to have given 
some hints of his ill-digested schemes of ambi¬ 
tion, while the Irish chief assured him that if 
he would be guided by his counsel, he would 
make him the greatest lord in England. Lord 
Southampton, and some other officers now joined 
the viceroy, and Tyrone was attended by his 
brother Cormac and a few Irish chiefs, when a 
conference was opened in due form, at which 
the earl proposed for himself and his friends 


DISCONTENT OF THE QUEEN. 




that they would return to their allegiance on 
the conditions of a general amnesty, the resto¬ 
ration of their lands, the free exercise of their 
religion, and the exemption of their territories 
from English jurisdiction. Essex promised to 
transmit their desires to the queen, which he 
was accused of having admitted to he just and 
reasonable, and the parties separated after 
asreeins to a truce for six weeks. 

o O 

Elizabeth and her council when made ac¬ 
quainted with the particulars of this conference, 
were fdled with indignation; but as the queen 
was apprehensive of some clandestine scheme 
of ambition on the part of Essex, she feared to 
provoke his impetuous temper by suddenly re¬ 
calling him from the Irish government. She, 
therefore, contented herself for the present 
with addressing a letter to him and his council, 
in which she enlarged on the misconduct of the 
war, in terms that cut the viceroy to the heart, 
lie burst into extravagant menaces of vengeance 
against his enemies, and even threatened to 
cross over to England with tlie flower of his 
army and punish their temerity. But the ad- 


FALL OF THE EARL OF ESSEX. 


345 


vice of his friends moderated these furious 
ebullitions; and he contented himself with 
placing the government in the hands of Arch¬ 
bishop Loftus and Sir George Carew, and re¬ 
pairing privately to London to vindicate his 
conduct to his royal mistress. It soon, how¬ 
ever, appeared, that he trusted too sanguinely 
to his former influence with Elizabeth^ and in a 
few months the career of the rash and unfor¬ 
tunate Essex was closed on the scaffold. 

All these events only tended to confirm the 
disaffected Irish lords in their pursuit of what 
they considered the path of honour"; and Ty¬ 
rone now received additional encouragement by 
the arrival of a large supply of money and am¬ 
munition from Spain, with assurances of a speedy 
and powerful reinforcement of troops from that 
country. At the same time arrived Don Mat¬ 
thew Oviedo, a Spanish ecclesiastic, whom the 
pope had nominated archbishop of Dublin, and 
by whom the Holy Father sent a present to the 
prince of Ulster (as Tyrone was now called) 
of a hallowed plume, which he gravely declared 
to be the feathers of aphcenix. 


346 


tyuone in munster. 


Tyrone was so elevated by these new honors 
and promises, that he recommenced hostilities 
as soon as the truce had expired. He published 
a manifesto to all his countrymen, exhorting 
them to forsake the shameful course of heresy, 
and to unite with him in arms to defend the 
liberty of their country, and especially of the 
Catholic religion, which was so dear to him 
that he was willing to sacrifice every personal 
feeling rather than abandon its sacred interests. 
Having prevailed on the earl of Ormond, who 
again commanded the royal forces, to renew the 
truce for a month, he, under pretence of a pil¬ 
grimage to the abbey of Holy Cross in Tip¬ 
perary, entered Munster with two thousand 
five hundred men, but his real design was to 
animate his southern associates with fresh ardour 
in the cause to which he was devoted, and 
during his stay in that province he exercised all 
the rights of a sovereign prince. The lands of 
all who opposed him were ravaged without 
mercy. He deposed Mac Arthy earl of Clan- 
care, and elevated Florence Mac Arthy, one of 
his most subtle partisans, to the dignity of Mac 


DEATH OF SIR THOMAS NORRIS. 


347 


Arthy More. At his instigation the titular earl 
of Desmond forwarded a letter to the king of 
Spain, in which after a magnificent display of 
his services, he required his majesty’s aid for 
the subjugation of his remaining enemies.— 
Another letter addressed to the pope by Ty¬ 
rone, Desmond, and Mac Arthy More, required 
the renewal of the sentence of excommunication 
against queen Elizabeth, but the pope did not 
think it prudent at this time to comply with 
their request; he, however, granted to prince 
O'Neill and his confederates the same indul¬ 
gences, which had been conferred on those 
who fought Fgainstthe Saracens for the recovery 
of the Holy Land. 

All Munster w^as now in possession of the 
rebels, with the exception of the fortified 
towns in which the royalists had shut them¬ 
selves up. To add to the dismay of the well- 
affected, Sir Thomas Norris, the lord president, 
died at Mallow', of a wound he received in a 
skirmish with the Bourkes, while Sir Warham 
St. Leger, the governor of Cork, was slain near 
that city by the northern chieftain Maguire, 


348 


CHARLES LORD MOUNTJOY. 


but not till after he had inflicted on his anta¬ 
gonist a mortal wound. Ormond, unable to re¬ 
press these disorders, made an alarming repre¬ 
sentation of the state of the country to the 
English government, in consequence of which 
Sir Charles Blount, lord ^Mountjoy, was ap¬ 
pointed chief governor, and Sir George Carew, 
lord president of Munster. The new viceroy 
having been a younger son of an ancient and 
honourable family was originally bred to the 
law ; but visiting the court of Elizabeth through 
curiosity, when scarcely arrived at his twentieth 
year, his person and manners attracted the 
queen’s attention ; he received sufficient en¬ 
couragement to commence courtier, and was 
soon after rewarded with the honor of knight¬ 
hood. Ilis exertions in the defeat of the Spa¬ 
nish Armada tended to forward his interest at 
court. He afterwards learnt the art of war in 
Britanny under Sir John Norris; and in 1594, 
by the death of his elder brother, he succeeded 
to a title, which the prodigality of his father 
had scarcely left any patrimony to maintain. 

Mountjoy was a man of studious habits and 


VIGOUR OF TilE NEW VICEROY. 


349 


refined manners, well acquainted with theology, 
history, mathematics, and natural philosophy; 
but as he had hitherto given no proofs of great 
military genius, those who were unacquainted 
with the treasures of his min 1 or the versatility 
of his talents, viewed him as a mere scholar, 
unfit for active exertion in the field. Tyrone 
is stated to have entertained so mean an opinion 
of the new viceroy, that he exultingly ex¬ 
claimed, ^Mie would lose the season of action 
while his breakfast was preparing.” The queen 
herself appears to have employed him with 
great diffidence, and to have placed her chief 
hopes on the earl of Ormond, who still retained 
the command of the army, and Sir George 
Carew the new president of Munster. 

But the vigorous conduct of lord Mountjoy 
soon displayed the fallacy of these anticipations. 
He resolved strictly to follow his instructions 
to encompass the northern insurgents, and cut 
off their supplies; and having received intelli¬ 
gence the day after his arrival, that Tyrone was 
in the west of Munster with a considerable 
force, and that the earls of Ormond, Thomond, 

u 


350 SEIZURE OF THE EARL OF ORMOND 


and Clanrickard, had so hemmed him in that 
he could not possibly escape, except by the 
western borders of the Pale, he marched imme¬ 
diately to Mullingar, to intercept his retreat in 
that direction. But he soon received the mor¬ 
tifying intelligence that Tyrone had contrived 
to cross the river Inny, and passed precipitately 
into the North. This event excited the vice¬ 
roy’s suspicions of those lords who were ap¬ 
pointed to watch the movements of the great 
northern insurgent, and these feelings received 
additional strength from the following incident. 

Sir George Carevv, accompanied by the earl 
of Thomond, lord Audley, and eight hundred 
horse and foot, proceeded early in the month of 
April, to take upon him his office of president 
of Munster. At the castle of Kilkenny he was 
magnificently received by the earl of Ormond, 
who informed him that he had agreed on the 
following morning to hold a parley with O’More, 
the great Leinster insurgent, and invited him 
and the earl of Thomond to attend the con¬ 
ference. The president, apprehensive for the 
consequences offered to collect his hundred ca- 


BY RORY o’MORE. 


351 


valry who were cantoned in the surrounding 
country, but the earl said there was no need of 
them, and went to the place of meeting with 
only seventeen horsemen, and a few lawyers 
and citizens armed with swords, two hundred 
infantry being posted about two miles in his 
rear. The place appointed for the conference 
was a heath called CoronnedufF, eight miles 
from Kilkenny, and here they found O’More 
with a choice troop of horse, while five hundred 
of his foot were in view in a wood, within half 
cannon shot. After Ormond and the rebel 
chieftain had continued conversing for more than 
an hour without coming to any agreement, Sir 
George Carew manifested considerable uneasi¬ 
ness, and warned the earl to retire; but Ormond 
expressed a wish to speak with Archer, a cele¬ 
brated Jesuit, who attended O’More, and a vio¬ 
lent altercation commenced between them, dur¬ 
ing which, the royal party became gradually sur¬ 
rounded by the insurgents from the wood. Ca¬ 
rew and Thomond now put spurs to their horses, 
and burst through the enemy, but not without 
injury, the latter having received a pike-wound 


352 


VIGOROUS CAMPAIGN 


ill his back. Ormond was unhorsed and taken 
prisoner, nor could the president’s exertions 
arouse his followers to attempt, his rescue, 
lie, therefore, after leaving in Kilkenny five 
hundred men for the protection of the coun¬ 
tess and her family, continued his route to 
Waterford. 

The spirits of the insurgents w'ere every 
where elated by the seizure of Ormond, and 
strong suspicions were excited among the royal¬ 
ists, that the earl had willingly surrendered 
himself to O’More, and that his followers being 
now deprived of their head, would unite with 
the opponents of government. O’More de¬ 
manded terms for the liberation of his noble 
captive, which were rejected with disdain by 
Mountjoy, who was determined, though the 
whole military force in Ireland did not, at that 
time, exceed fifteen thousand men, that this 
disaster should not cause him to relax in his 
exertions against the northern rebels. He had 
already posted strong detachments at Dundalk, 
Ardee, Kells, Newry, and Carlingford, to keep 
them in awe on that side, while Sir Henry 


IN ULSTER. 


353 


Dockwra, a brave English officer^ was ordered to 
make a descent in Lough Foyle with four thou¬ 
sand men. This was effectually accomplished, 
Dockwra landing his forces in O’Dogherty’s 
territory of Innishowen, and taking possession 
of Derry, with the forts of Culmore and Dun- 
nalong, all of which he greatly strengthened. 

On the 5th of May, Mountjoy opened the 
campaign in person, and having reached 
Newry, received information that Tyrone had 
destroyed the fort of Portmor, set fire to Ar¬ 
magh, and then retired into the fastnesses of^ 
Lough Lurkin, where he had formed intrench- 
ments and fortifications three miles in length. 
On the 15th the deputy marched towards Ar¬ 
magh, with seventeen hundred men, and on the 
17th captain Blayney, with the advanced guard 
was attacked near the Pass of Moyry, by Ty¬ 
rone, at the head of a considerable force ; but 
by the opportune arrival of the deputy with his 
main body, the Irish chieftain was compelled 
to abandon the field. This event, with the es¬ 
tablishment of the English forces at Lough 
Foyle, tended greatly to diminish Tyrone’s 


354 


DEATH or o’MORE. 


power and consequence ; many of his adherents 
deserted his cause, and Sir Arthur O’Neill with 
others of his chief partisans, sought for pardon 
and protection. But while the lord deputy was 
thus making successful progress in extinguish¬ 
ing the rebellion in Ulster, he was suddenly re¬ 
called to the capital by fresh outrages of the 
Leinster insurgents, who had lately released the 
earl of Ormond on his giving hostages for the 
payment of a large ransom. He immediately 
put his forces in motion in that direction, and 
pursued Tirrel and O’More into the Queen^s 
County, where the latter was killed in a bold 
attack which he made upon the royal army. 
In this expedition Mountjoy had the good for¬ 
tune to rescue lord Ormond’s hostages, and he 
subdued the last hopes of the rebels in this dis¬ 
trict, by reducing their country to a desert. 
Similar measures were adopted by Sir Arthur 
Chichester and Sir Samuel Bagnal, in the 
northern province, and thus the inhabitants 
being prevented from cultivating their lands, 
Tyrone with his dispirited army, shrunk gra¬ 
dually within narrower bounds, while famine, 


ACTION AT THE MOYIIY PASS. 


355 


misery, and death, pervaded the whole sur¬ 
rounding district. 

After having tranquillized Leinster as above 
related, Mountjoy early in September, again en¬ 
tered the northern province, and assembled at 
Dundalk a force of two thousand seven hundred 
men, with whom he marched on the 9th of 
October, to the Moyry Pass, which Tyrone 
had lately fortified with great care, and power¬ 
fully manned with soldiers. But the viceroy 
drove him from his intrenchments sword in 
hand, then advanced to Newry, eight miles 
beyond which he erected a new fort, named it 
Mount Norris, in honor of his master in the art 
of war. Sir John Norris, and placed it under 
the command of captain Blayney. lie now of¬ 
fered a reward of two thousand pounds for the 
capture of the great rebel chieftain, and then 
retired to Carlingford, where Tyrone made 
another attack on his army, but was vigo¬ 
rously repulsed with the loss of twm hundred 

men. 

During these proceedings Red Hugh O’Don- 
nel was indefatigable in his exertions against 


SoG AFFAIRS OF MUNSTER. 

the English interests in Connaught anJ the west¬ 
ern parts of Ulster. Having determined on 
another predatory incursion in Thomond, he 
had passed the river of Sligo for that purpose, 
when he received intelligence that his kinsman 
Neill O’Donnel Garniffe^ (or the Boisterous,) 
with two of his brethren, had joined the Eng¬ 
lish, and placed in their hands the castle of 
Lifford. Red Hugh immediately returned to 
Ulster and invested the fortress, which gave 
rise to a desultory warfare in this quarter, that 
continued for several months with little advan¬ 
tage on either side. 

While the viceroy was thus successful in di¬ 
minishing the power and influence of the in¬ 
surgent lords of Ulster and Leinster, Sir George 
Carew had made considerable progress towards 
the re-establishment of the royal authority in 
the southern province. After receiving the 
submission of Fitzgerald and Power, two insur¬ 
gent leaders at Waterford, he marched to 
Voughal, where he obtained information that 
.Florence Mac Arthy, who had been lately 
raised up by government as rival to Daniel, in 


DEFEAT OF FLORENCE MAC AUTHV. 357 


the chieftainship of his sept, had accepted tlie 
title of Mac Arthy More from the earl of Ty¬ 
rone, and that he had a few days before mani¬ 
fested his attachment to the rebel cause by 
assembling a body of two thousand Irish, with 
which he attacked a division of the royal forces 
in a glen midway between Cork and Kinsale. 
The English, who amounted to about thirteen 
hundred men, were driven back at the first 
onset of their antagonists under the walls of an 
old castle ; but captain Flower, turning on his 
pursuers, charged them so briskly with his 
cavalry, that the Irish were finally routed with 
the loss of two hundred men. 

When the president arrived in Cork, an 
official report of the state of the province was 
laid before him, from which it appeared that 
the spirit of disloyalty was so universal, that 
even the cities and great towns abounded with 
disaffected persons ; and that besides the many 
thousands of their followers which the insurgent 
lords Avere able to bring into the field, they had 
employed five thousand Connaught mercenaries 
under Redmond Bourke and Dermod O’Con- 


358 PROCEEDINGS OF THE LORD PRESIDENT. 

nor. To encounter this formidable enemj, 
Carew commanded a force of not more than 
three thousatid foot and two hundred and fifty 
horse, which he was well convinced must be 
wholly inadequate to the task of subduing his 
opponents, should they continue united. To 
create jealousy and suspicion of each other’s 
fidelity amongst them was therefore the presi¬ 
dent’s first object; and events soon proved how 
expert a master Sir George Carew was in all 
the arts of political dissimulation. He spread 
rumours of intended devastating excursions 
from his head-quarters, which compelled the 
neighbouring chieftains to submit to the royal 
mercy, and even Florence Mac'Arthy consented 
to remain neutral. He next practised with 
O’Connor, the chieftain of the Connaught mer¬ 
cenaries, who had married a daughter of the 
late earl of Desmond. This lady, having re¬ 
ceived an English education, was attached to 
the government, and naturally averse to the 
usurper of her brother’s title ; and through her 
influence O’Connor was prevailed on, for a sum 
of money, to deliver the titular earl into the 


SURRENDER OF LOUGH-GUR. 


350 


liands of the president. After arranging these 
preliminaries, Sir George Carew declared his 
intention ol marching towards Limerick on the 
6th of May, and devastating all the lands and 
houses of the rebels on his route, which so 
alarmed the White Knight and some other 
cliieftains, that they immediately sent in their 
submissions ; while Pierce Lacy, the chief in¬ 
surgent leader of Limerick, blew up his castle 
of Bruff, and Redmond Bourke returned to 
Connaught. 

But notwithstanding these desertions a large 
insurgent force was collected in the great wood 
of Kilmore, between Mallow and Kilmallock, to 
intercept Sir George in his march. The pre¬ 
sident, how'ever, had too much sagacity to fall 
into this snare, and he deferred his journey till 
they had dispersed, when suddenly quitting 
Cork he reached Kilmallock without opposi¬ 
tion. From hence he proceeded to Limerick, 
and commenced preparations for the siege of 
the castle of Lough-Gur ; but this fortress was 
surrendered before a shot was fired against it 
by Groome, the governor, on a promise of par. 


360 


ATTEMPT ON JOHN OF DESMOND. 


don, and a reward of sixty pounds. Another 
incident occurred at this time which proves 
how little the associates in a bad cause can 
depend on each other. One Nugent, a servant 
of Sir Thomas Norris, the late lord president, 
had deserted to the rebels, and by his apparent 
devotedness to their service, had gained much 
of their confidence. Now that their affairs 
seemed declining, he expressed a wish to return 
to his allegiance, and made a proposal to the 
president of purchasing his pardon by destroy- 
insT either the titular earl or his brother John. 
As Sir George Carew had already made ar¬ 
rangements with Dermod O’Connor for the 
seizure of the earl, he directed the attention of 
Nugent to his brother, and he accordingly at¬ 
tempted to dispatch John of Desmond while 
riding with him in the wood of Aherlow. He 
had just levelled a pistol at his intended victim, 
when he was seized, and condemned to die ; 
and at his execution he confessed his desien, 
adding that many others had sworn to the lord 
president to accomplish what he had intended ; 
a declaration which so intimidated Desmond 


RESCUE OF THE TITULAR EARL. 


361 


and his brother, that they were ever after afraid 
to lodge together, or appear at the head of their 
troops. 

Dermod O’Connor’s proposal of seizing the 
titular earl yet remained to be executed. To 
favour the design, the president, after devastat¬ 
ing the lands of the insurgents in the county of 
Limerick, suddenly distributed his forces in the 
neighbouring towns, and the rebel chieftains 
followed his example. O’Connor, conceiving 
this to be the opportune moment for effecting 
Ids purpose, solicited an interview with the 
titular earl on the 18 th of June, that they might 
deliberate on the posture of their affairs. Des¬ 
mond accompanied by a son of lord Kerry at¬ 
tended the appointment; but in the midst of 
their conference O’Connor suddenly produced a 
letter purporting to have been written by the 
lord president to the earl, and which intimated 
that a secret correspondence existed between 
them. This letter O’Connor declared he had 
intercepted, and instantly seized Desmond as a 
traitor to the earl of Tyrone and his cause, and 
confined him w’ith his attendants in Castle 


X 


262 


SIEGE OF THE 


Ishin in the great wood of Connello. Intelli¬ 
gence of this important event was instantly 
transmitted to Sir George Carew ; but before 
he could arrive to secure his prize, Castle Ishin 
was surrounded by four thousand men under 
lord Kerry, the knight of Glin, and Pierce 
Lacy, who speedily rescued the captives, while 
O’Connor found means to appease his associates. 

Though his plans had not succeeded to the 
full extent of his wishes, yet the jealousies 
which they excited among the insurgent chief¬ 
tains encouraged Sir George Carew to proceed 
with vigour in his military operations. He 
inarched from Limerick early in July at the 
head of fifteen hundred men, captured Croom, 
ii castle belonging to the earl of Kildare, and 
then invested the castle of Glin, which was 
strongly situated on the banks of the Shannon ; 
Desmond, though encamped on a neighbouring 
eminence with double his force, not daring to 
attack him. The governor of Glin castle hav¬ 
ing refused to surrender, a child of the knight, 
aged six years, who had been for some time a 
hostage with the president, was placed on one 


CASTLE OF GLIN. 


363 


of the gabions ; but the garrison signifying that 
their fears for his life should not slacken their 
lirej he was removed from his perilous station, 
and the besiegers adopted more legitimate 
means for subduing the garrison. The vigorous 
lire of the English batteries having soon made a 
practicable breach in the castle, captain Flower 
with a party of his men entered the vault under 

t 

the great hall, where he maintained his post 
until the following morning amidst showers of 
shot. The constable having attempted to escape 
in the night was slain, and the survivors of the 
garrison ascended to the battlements, declaring 
their firm resolution to sell their lives as dearly 
as possible. The English under captains Flower 
and Slingsby now mounted the narrow stairs in 
single file, and as each man reached the top he 
found himself engaged hand to hand with the 
enemy in that perilous situation ; a dreadful 
conflict ensued, in Avhich the still increasing 
numbers of the assailants at length succeeded. 
The remnant of the garrison, amounting to 
eighty men were either slain by the sword, or 
precipitated from the battlements into the Shan- 


364 


EXPLOITS OF MAURICE STACK. 


non, while on the part of the English nearly 
half that number were killed or wounded. 

Desmond and his confederates now fled into 
Kerry, while O’Connor returned into his own 
country with the Connaught mercenaries. The 
president followed up his success by capturing 
the castle of Carrigfoyle, from whence he 
sent Maurice Stack into Kerry at the head of 
a small detachment. Stack was a native of this 
county, and though a man of remarkably small 
stature, he possessed great activity and invinci¬ 
ble courage. With his handful of men he 
marched into the heart of the country, set fire 
to the town of Ardfert, and surprised Liscahan 
castle, which he maintained against all the 
force and wiles of lord Kerry and Florence 
Mac Arthy till the president and the earl of 
Thomond arrived to its relief. Six hundred 
men under Sir Charles Wilmot were now de¬ 
tached against lord Kerry’s castle of Ifixnaw, 
which they captured, and then pushed forward 
to regain the castle of Tralee which Desmond 
had just taken from Sir Edward Denny. Wil¬ 
mot reached it at the moment when the enemy 


LADY KERRY. 


365 


were preparing to blow it up : a number of 
the Irish were put to the sword, and the re¬ 
mainder fled to the mountains of Slievemish.— 
The knight of Kerry about this time abandon¬ 
ed the cause of the insurgents, and refused the 
mock earl admission into his castle of Dingle. 
Desmond set fire to the town before his depar¬ 
ture, and he with Pierce Lacy returned soon 
after to plunder his lands : but the knight 
gave them such a warm reception that they 
w'ere compelled to fly with the loss of two of 
their principal officers and several of their fol¬ 
lowers. 

The capture of his chief castle of Lixnaw had 
so preyed on the mind of lord Kerry that he 
died of grief a few days after. His son and 
successor Thomas, who was now in his twenty- 
sixth year, had married a sister of the earl of 
Thomond, but he rejected every effort made by 
his noble kinsman to induce him to return to 
his allegiance. His lady appears to have in¬ 
dulged similar sentiments, and she formed a 
plan for avenging the death of her father-in-law 
on one of the chief partisans of the English 


366 


MURDER OF MAURICE STACK. 


government in this county. About the end of 
August she invited the brave Maurice Stack to 
dine with her at her lord’s castle of Beaulieu. 
After dinner she desired to speak with him 
privately in her chamber, where a disagree¬ 
ment having taken place between them, she 
called out to some of her adherents who were 
stationed at the door, Do you not hear him 
abuse me The assassins instantly rushed in, 
stabbed Stack with their skeins, and threw him 
out of a high window into the court-yard : his 
brother Thomas Stack was hanged by lord 
Kerry on the following day, by which he ma¬ 
nifested his participation in the foul murder.— 
The earl of Thomond w ould never see his sister 
after the commission of this detestable crime, 
nor did she survive it a year. 

Desmond’s affairs appeared now so desperate, 
that he was abandoned by his principal associ¬ 
ates. His brother John, with Pierce Lacy, 
fled into Ulster; Florence Mac Arthy returned 
to his neutral position, and the titular earl him¬ 
self became a fugitive, exposed, like his unfor¬ 
tunate predecessor, to continual perils. On the 


ARIUVAL OF THE YOUNG EARL OF DESMOND.367 


16 th of SeptembeFj while passing at the head 
of the scanty remnant of his forces, from Con- 
iiello to the wood of Aherlow, he was attacked 
by a detachment of the garrison of Kilmallock, 
commanded by Sir George Thornton, and de¬ 
feated with the loss of two hundred men, and 
all his baggage. Soon after this event, the go¬ 
vernment adopted a plan for dividing his fol¬ 
lowers and distracting his councils, by setting 
up a rival to his power, in the person of James 
the son of that earl of Desmond, who had been 
the first promoter of the rebellion in Munster. 
Lord James Fitzgerald had been educated in 
England, and was kept in the tower of London 
in a kind of honorable seclusion. He was now 
released, saluted as the earl of Desmond, and 
sent over to Ireland ; the patent for his resto¬ 
ration being placed in the hands of the lord 
president, to be delivered or retained as cir¬ 
cumstances might require. Sir George Carew 
received the young earl at Mallow, and imme¬ 
diately forwarded him to the county of Li¬ 
merick, under the conduct of the archbishop of 
Cashel, and Mr. Boyle, afterwards the great 


368 Ills RECEPTION AT KILMALLOCK, 


carl of Cork. When he arrived at Kilmallock, 
the chief (own of his ancestors, he was received 
with extraordinary demonstrations of joy, llie 
inhabitants ‘ throwing upon him wheat and salt, 
a ceremony used in the election of their magis¬ 
trates as a token of future peace and plenty. 
The windows and roofs of the houses were 
crowded with spectators anxious to catch a 
glimpse of the heir of their ancient lords, while 
a guard of soldiers with difficulty made a pas¬ 
sage for the earl through the dense multitude 
which thronged the streets, and rent the air 
with their acclamations. But on the following 
day, which was Sunday, the streets of Kilmal¬ 
lock presented a very different scene. The 
young lord who was educated in the princi¬ 
ples of the established church, proceeded to 
attend divine service through a similar con¬ 
course as that which had attended him on the 
preceding day. But (he tone and language 
of the populace was completely changed: 
they thundered in his ears the disgrace, dan¬ 
ger, and impropriety of forsaking the religion 
of his ancestors, and joining in the hereti¬ 
cal worship; and on his return from church, 




j 


DEATH OF DERMOD o’cONNOR. 


369 


he was greeted with loud insults and execra¬ 
tions. During his future residence in Ire¬ 
land, he remained unnoticed and unattended 
—and being unable to render any material ser¬ 
vice to the government, he returned to England, 
where he died In the following year. 

The want of success that attended the res¬ 
toration of young Desmond, was now of the 
less importance, as the affairs of the Munster 
rebels appeared to be reduced to the lowest 
ebb. Tyrone was too closely pressed by the 
vigilant Mountjoy to be able to render any 
assistance, while their Connaught auxiliaries 
had either made their peace with the govern¬ 
ment, or found it necessary for the present to 
temporize. Their late ally Dermod O’Connor, 
on learning that his brother-in-law, the young 
earl of Desmond, had arrived in Munster, ob¬ 
tained a safe-conduct from the president to join 
him with a body of his followers ; but in pass¬ 
ing through O’Shaughnessy’s country, about 
eighteen miles from Limerick, he was attacked 
by Theobald-ny-lung Bourke, who was captain 
of a hundred foot in the queen’s service.— 

x3 


370 


SIEGli OF THE 


O’Connor took refuge in an old churchj which 
Bourke set on lire, and as the soldiers were 
issuing from the flames, he slew forty of them, 
and took O’Connor prisoner, whom he beheaded 
on the following day, in revenge, he said, for 
the death of his cousin lord Bourke, The 
government were so incensed at this act, that 
Theobald Bourke was dismissed from her ma¬ 
jesty’s service. 

All the strong holds of the insurgents of 
Munster had now fallen into the hands of 
the royal forces, with the exception of the 
castle of Listowel, belonging to lord Kerry, to 
which Sir Charles Wilmot laid siege on the 
fifth of November. The fortress being soon 
undermined, the garrison surrendered, and were 
all put to death as traitors, having formerly 
received protections, with the exception-of a 
priest named Mac Brodie, whose life was saved 
on the following account. So confident was 
lord Kerry in the impregnable strength of 
Listowel castle, that he deposited there not 
only his most valuable goods, but his eldest 
son, a child five years old. Anxious for the 


371 


CASTLE OF LISTOWEL. 

safety of their young charge, the unfortunate - 
garrison, though despairing of life for them¬ 
selves, disarrayed him of his accustomed dress, 
smeared his face with dirt, and committed him 
to the care of an old woman, who conveyed him 
naked and disfigured on her back, through the 
hostile encampment. Sir Charles Wilmot when 
he learned the circumstance, searched in vain 
for the prize which had escaped him. He then 
threatened the priest with instant death unless 
he disclosed to him the place of the infant’s 
concealment; but this the priest refused to do 
till Sir Charles gave him assurance that his 
own life and that of the child should be spared. 
He then conducted a party of soldiers to a wood 
about six miles distant from the castle, where, 
in a cave whose entrance was completely con¬ 
cealed by thorns and briars nearly impenetrable, 
the little innocent and his faithful nurse were 
found ; and the child was immediately sent to the 
lord president, and retained as a hostage for 
the future fidelity of his father. The anxiety 
thus manifested by the unfortunate garrison of 
Listowel, even in the immediate prospect of 


372 


MILITAUY DEVASTATIONS 


deatli, to preserve the infant heir of their lord, 
affords a fine trait of that fidelity and attach¬ 
ment to their leaders which have in all ages 
marked the Jrish character. 

The spirit of the insurgents seemed now 
completely broken, and their w'retched chief 
chose the life of a wandering kern rather than 
commit himself to the protection of any of his 
confederates. The president sent out detach¬ 
ments of military, which soon rendered that 
part of the county of Limerick where the mi¬ 
serable remains of the rebel forces had taken 
refuge a complete desert, and above four thou¬ 
sand persons laid down their arms and submit¬ 
ted to the queen’s mercy. A royal pardon w as 
issued to any of the southern rebels who should 
be recommended by the lord president, with 
the exception of the titular earl of Desmond, 
his brother John, Pierce Lacy, lord Kerry, and 
the knight of Glin, or the Valley. 

Though a death-11 ke tranquillity now pre¬ 
vailed throughout Munster, yet the vigilant 
Carew was aware that the most active exertions 
were being made to re-animate the spirit of 


VIGOUR OF THE LORD PRESIDENT. 373 

insubordination in the South both by the 
foreign and domestic enemies of the English 
government. Oviedo, a Spanish ecclesiastic, 
who had been lately appointed by the pope 
archbishop of Dublin, gave strong assurances of 
the speedy arrival of Spanish succours, w'hile 
Tyrone received fresh letters from the Holy 
Father, filled with benedictions on him and 
all his faithful adherents who had not bowed the 
knee to Baal ‘ and the great northern leader 
sent emissaries among the disaffected in the 
other provinces, to prepare them for the recep¬ 
tion of their foreign allies. Carevv therefore 
saw the necessity of redoubled exertions for 
the apprehension of the principal southern chief¬ 
tain, which had hitherto been prevented by the 
fidelity of the follow^ers of that unhappy lord? 
who resisted every temptation that the promise 
of security and wealth afforded. But in the 
month of May 1601 , an incident occurred, 
w hich ultimately led to the accomplishment of 
the president’s desire. A party of lord Barry’s 
soldiers pursued some robbers into a wood where 
Desmond was concealed, with a few companions. 


374 CAPTURE AND IMPRISONMENT OF 

Alarmed at their approach, the chieftain started 
from the miserable supper which had been pre¬ 
pared for him and fled to the territory of Fitz- 
gibbon, the White Knight, while a mantle, 
which he left behind, discovered to the soldiers 
the valuable prize which had just escaped them. 

Lord Barry, who was at this time at variance 
with the White Knight, imputed Desmond’s es¬ 
cape to the negligence or treachery of that 
chieftain, who being under protection, was 
threatened by the president that his life and 
lands should be made accountable if the fugitive 
were not secured. Stung by these reproaches, 
and alarmed by the danger with which he was 
menaced, the White Knight declared that he 
w'ould bring in Desmond dead or alive ; and 
having offered a reward of fifty pounds for his 
apprehension, he was led by one of his follow¬ 
ers, accompanied by six or seven men, to a cave 
in the mountain of Slieugort, in Tipperary.— 
The party entered the cave with their swords 
drawn, and there found the unhappy object of 
their pursuit, accompanied only by his foster- 
brother. They submitted without resistance, 


THE TITULAR EARL. 


375 


and Desmond was instantly sent to Cork, where 
he w'as tried and convicted of high treason : 
but Sir George Carew recommended that his 
life should he spared, as otherwise his brother 
John might assume the title and become equally 
dangerous to the state. He was accordingly 
sent to London and confined in the tower till 
his death which occurred in 1608 . His brother 
John who had escaped to Spain, then assumed 
the title, in which he was succeeded by his 
only son Gerald, who after serving with distinc¬ 
tion in the armies of Germany and Spain, died 
without issue in 1632 , and with him ended the 
last hope of this illustrious but turbulent 
family. 


376 


HOSTILITIES IN ULSTER. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


Vigorous proceedings of Lord Mountjoy in 
Ulster—Action at Benburb—Landing of 
Spanish Troops at Kinsale under Don Juan 
de Aquila—Advance of the Viceroy against 
the Invaders—Siege of Kinsale—March of 
Tyrone and O'Donnel to the South—Fresh 
disembarkation of Spaniards at Castlehaven 
—Perilous state of the English Army—BaU 
tie of Kinsale and flight of the Irish Chief¬ 
tains—Death of Red Hugh O’Donnel — 
Surrender of Kinsale—Obstinate defence of 
the Castle of Dunboy by O'Sullivan Beare — 
Death of 3PEgan, the Apostolic Vicar — 
Perilous flight of O'Sullivan, O'Connor 
Kerry^ <^c .—Defeat and Death of Captain 
Malby—Singular preservation of O'Sulli¬ 
van's Family—Story of Teig Keugh Mac 
Mahon and Henry O'Brien of Trummera — 
The Viceroy's progress in Ulster—Final 



BATTLE OF BENBURB. 


377 


Overthrow and Submission of Tyrone—Death 

of Queen Elizabeth. 

While the lord president of Munster was 
thus successful in crushing the southern insur¬ 
rection, the viceroy Mountjoy continued the 
most vigorous exertions for the reduction of 
the great northern chieftain. On the 22d of 
May 1601, he marched from Dublin, and after 
adopting various regulations for the security of 
the district through which he passed, reached 
Armagh on the 23d of June, which the Irish 
abandoned at his approach. He advanced to 
the Blackwateron the 13th of July, and after 
an action of three hours continuance drove 
Tyrone from his intrenchments at Benburb 
with considerable loss, and proceeded to erect 
a new fort on the ruins of Portmor. But while 
engaged in these operations Tyrone’s forces 
suddenly appeared in an adjacent meadow, and 
raising a loud shout which was mingled with 
the noise of drums and bag pipes, fired several 
thousand shot into the viceroy’s camp. Mount- 
joy luid anticipated such a visit by placing four 


378 


ARRIVAL OF SPANISH TROOPS 


hundred men in ambush, who now poured on 
Tyrone’s forc,es such an unexpected and de¬ 
structive volley, that they fled, leaving the 
ground covered with their slain, amongst whom 
was the celebrated southern chieftain Pierce 
Lacy of Bruflf in the county of Limerick. 

But the landing of a body of Spanish troops 
in Munster soon rendered the northern war 
an object of minor consideration. This event 
had been for some time anticipated by the 
leaders of the insurgents, who held various 
consultations as to the most suitable point for 
their disembarkation, and other matters necessa¬ 
ry to their success. Limerick was at first pro¬ 
posed on account of its proximity to Connaught 
and Leinster: but at the suggestion of Florence 
Mac Arthy, Cork was ultimately fixed upon, as 
it contained the government stores, and was less 
capable of defence. The vigilant Carew being 
soon apprised of those proceedings, took the 
most prompt measures to meet the threatened 
danger. He demanded six thousand additional 
troops from England for the defence of his 
province, secured the person of Florence Mac 


IN MUNSTEH. 


379 


Arthy whom he sent into England, and impri¬ 
soned many others of the insurgent leaders, one 
of whom after making strong professions of 
loyalty, justified the president’s precaution when 
he suddenly asked him the question, What 
would you do if the Spaniards should arrive ?” 

In that case,” answered the chief, let not 
your lordship confide in me ; no, nor in any of 
those lords who seem most devoted to your 
service/’ 

The fears of the government were soon rea¬ 
lized, for on the 22d of September seventeen 
Spanish ships of war and thirty-three transports 
were descried off Cork harbour, and on the 
following day Don Juan d’Aquila landed at 
Kinsale with five thousand troops, and took 
possession of the town, and the castle of Rin- 
curran without resistance. The Spanish general 
immediately sent despatches to Ulster to notify 
his arrival, and press the immediate march of 
Tyrone and O’Donnel to his support, while 
foreign ecclesiastics spread themselves through 
the country in all directions to excite the peo¬ 
ple to revolt. On the first certain intimation 


380 


SIE<JE OF KINSALE. 


of the invasioiij Mountjoy had given up his 
pursuit of the northern insurgents, and after 
securing his conquests with sufficient garrisons, 
marched southward with the remainder of his 
forces. 

The arrival of two thousand troops from 
England increased the royal army to nearly 
eight thousand men, at whose head lord Mount- 
joy, after holding a conference with Sir George 
Carew at Kilkenny, advanced against the inva¬ 
ders, whose numbers were as yet little aug¬ 
mented by the natives, w ho were either intimi¬ 
dated by the vigorous preparations of the 
president, or disgusted by the coldness with 
which their overtures were received by their 
foreign allies. On the 17th of October the 
viceroy encamped at Knockrobbin w ithin half 
a mile of Kinsale, and from this period constant 
hostilities were kept up between the besiegers 
and the garrison, with considerable loss on 
both sides, till the 31st, when the castle of 
Rincurran being rendered untenable by the 
English batteries, surrendered, and the Spanish 
garrison were sent prisoners to Cork. 


SIEGE OF KINSALE. 


381 


The viceroy was now advancing in the siege 
with the most sanguine hopes of success, when 
intelligence arrived that Tyrone and O’Donnel 
were marching rapidly to the assistance of the 
Spaniards. Red Hugh, on learning that his 
long expected friends had at length arrived, 
suddenly ceased his operations against Neill 
O’Donnel and the English of Donegal, ,and 
assembled all the forces he could collect, amount¬ 
ing to more than four thousand, at Ballymote, 
with whom he proceeded southwards on the 
2d of November, and he halted during several 
weeks at Holy Cross in Tipperary, waiting for 
Tyrone’s troops, who were slowly advancing. 
Mountjoy thinking it prudent to attempt the 
destruction of O’Donnel’s force before this 
junction should be effected. Sir George Carew 
was despatched with about three thousand 
men, with whom he marched rapidly to 
Ardmaile within four miles of O’Donnel’s 
camp; but the latter favoured by a severe frost 
passed over the mountain of Slievephelim into 
the county of Limerick, and crossing bogs and 
morasses that would have otherwise proved 


382 


SIEGE OF KINSALE. 


impassable,he ultimately reached Bandon, where 
he was soon after joined by the northern forces 
under Tyrone. 

After a fruitless pursuit the lord president 
returned to the camp at Kinsale, where he was 
consoled for his disappointment by finding that 
the royal army had been reinforced by more 
than five thousand men under the earls of 
Thomond and Clanrickard and Sir Richard 
Leviston. Lord Mountjoy was thus enabled 
to press the siege with augmented vigour.— 
The fort of Castlepark was compelled to sub¬ 
mit; but when the Spanish commander was 
again summoned to surrender the town, he 
replied that he held it for Christ and the king 
of Spain ; that he would maintain it against all 
their enemies, and with a spirit of romantic 
valour for which his nation was then remarka¬ 
ble, he challenged the viceroy to decide the 
quarrel of their respective sovereigns by single 
combat. 

Events, however, soon occurred, which tend¬ 
ed to depress the hopes of the royal command¬ 
ers, and raise the spirits of the foreigners. Six 


SIEGE OF KINSALE. 


383 


Spanish ships had landed two thousand addi¬ 
tional troops at Castlehaven; furtlier reinforce., 
ments were expected, while O’Donnel had 
united his forces with these new invaders. 
This appearance of powerful support encouraged 
many of the Munster chieftains who had hitherto 
remained neutral to throw off the mask, and 
the majority of tlie inhabitants of the counties 
of Cork, Limerick, and Kerry, declared for the 
Spaniards, to whom the O’Driscols surrendered 
their forts at Castlehaven and Baltimore.— 
O’Sullivan Beare received a Spanish garrison 
into his strong castle of Dunboy, while O’Con¬ 
nor'Kerry placed Carrigfoyle in the hands of 
the foreigners who put the whole garrison to 
the sword. 

On the 2d of December K insale was com¬ 
pletely invested by the royal forces, and a 
vigorous cannonade was commenced on the 9th. 
But the English army had now a new enemy to 
contend with, Tyrone having taken post about 
six miles distance from their camp so as to cut 
off all intercourse with Cork, while O’Donnel 
and the Spaniards at Castlehaven pressed them 


384 


SIEGE OF KINSALE. 


on the opposite side. Thus the besiegers were 
in effect besieged in their turn, and being pre¬ 
vented from foraging, soon became in such 
want of provisions in the depth of winter, that 
many of them dropped dead upon their posts, 
numbers deserted, and their losses were so 
scantily supplied from England, that had 
Tyrone’s advice been followed which recom¬ 
mended that the Irish and their allies should 
remain obstinately in their present situation, 
there is little doubt that that army on which the 
fate of the English power in Ireland seemed to 
depend, must have been speedily destroyed. 
But Don Juan, impatient of the long imprison¬ 
ment which he had suffered in Kinsale, and 
confident of victory, solicited the Irish chief¬ 
tains in the most urgent manner to attack the 
English camp, assuring them that he would at 
the same time make a vigorous sortie from the 
town j and from this joint effort he anticipated 
an easy triumph over an enemy already much 
weakened by famine and sickness. 

At a council of war which was held by the 
confederate chieftains, Tyrone gave his decided 


BATTLE OF KINSALE. 383 

opinion for the continuance of that system of 
blockade which they had hitherto so success¬ 
fully pursued; but the ardent and enterprising 
O’Donnel declared for more active measures as 
a duty which they owed to their ally the king 
of Spain. His opinion prevailed, and after 
Tyrone had given a reluctant consent^ the two 
chiefs, instead of cordially uniting in deliberat¬ 
ing on the wisest mode of attack, are said to 
have spent a great part of the night in an alter¬ 
cation about precedence. Still they appeared 
so confident of victory that we are told they 
argued whose prisoners the lord deputy and 
lord president should be, 

Mountjoy, having received secret intelligence 
of all these proceedings from Mac Mahon, one 
of the insurgent chiefs, resolved to march 
against the advancing enemy, whose object was 
to throw a strong reinforcement into the town 
during the assault of the royal position. Having 
accordingly charged the lord president with the 
defence of the camp against Don Juan, he pro¬ 
ceeded on the morning of the 24th of December 
with sixteen hundred men against the confe- 


Y 


386 


BATTLE OF KINSALE. 


derate Irish, whom he found advantageously 
posted. But the English horse under marshal 
Wingfield and the earl of Clanrickard, having 
crossed a bog behind which a large body of the 
fiiemy were stationed, the latter were speedily 
ibroken and fled. The remainder of the army 
as if struck with a panic, followed the example, 
with the exception of the Spaniards and the 
vanguard under Tyrrel, who gallantly main¬ 
tained their ground for some time, till they 
were entirely broken, and Ocampo, the Spanish 
general, was taken prisoner by a charge of lord 
Mountjoy’s horse under Sir William Godolphin. 
In this singular action the English are said to 
have had but one cornet slain and five or six 
officers with some twenty or thirty common 
soldiers wounded, while of the Irish twelve 
hundred fell in the battle or pursuit, and eight 
hundred were wounded, lord Clanrickard we 
are told, slaying with his own hand, no less 
than tw^enty. It might be compared to the 
Battle of the Spiirs^ wliich Henry the VIII. 
fought at Guinegate in Picardy, where the 
French cavaliers trusted more to their spurs 


FLIGHT OF TYRONE AND o’dONNEL. 387 


tliari to their swords. But it is scarcely account¬ 
able on natural principles, that men distinguished 
by so much skill and bravery as Tyrone and 
O’Donnel had displayed for many years, should 
now at the head of six or seven thousand troops, 
exhibit such pusillanimity before a handful of 
men greatly inferior in number, and much re¬ 
duced by their sufferings in physical strength. 

Tyrone fled with the remnant of his follow¬ 
ers to his own territory in the North, while 
O’Donnel embarked for Spain to solicit fresh 
succours. lie was received at Corunna with 
the highest honours by count Caracena, who 
accompanied him to court where the king 
treated him w ith the greatest affability, and 
promised to fulfll all his requests. At St. 
James of Compostella he was received with 
great magnificence by the clergy and citizens ; 
and the archbishop after celebrating mass with 
much solemnity, administered the sacrament to 
the Irish chieftain. The archbishop then enter¬ 
tained him at dinner, and at his departure 
presented him with a thousand ducats. He 
remained at Corunna for several months in 


388 DEATH OF RED HUGH o’dONNEL. 

expectation of the promised succours from the 
king; but while on a second journey to the 
court he was carried olf by a sudden illness in 
the 32d year of his age, and thus terminated 
the active and turbulent life of Red Hugh 
O’Donnel. All who read his history must 
regret that his great talents and energies were 
not better directed; for though it must be 
freely admitted that his resentment against the 
English government was at first excited by the 
most cruel injustice, yet he afterwards carried 
it to an unwarrantable length, which brought 
ruin on himself and inflicted dreadful misery 
on his country. 

After the English army had returned to the 
camp before Kinsale they offered public thanks¬ 
givings to heaven for a victory which had been 
unexpectedly gained with so little loss on the 
part of the conquerors ; and they afterwards 
gave a striking proof of their gratitude by sub¬ 
scribing £1800 to commence a Library in 
Trinity College, Dublin, which had been found¬ 
ed about ten years before. It was a large sum 
in those days to be contributed by so small an 


NEGOCIATIONS. 


389 


army; and with this money the celebrated 
archbishop Usher went to London to purchase 
the books which served as the nucleus of that 
splendid library which at this day confers so 
much honor on the university and the nation. 

When Don Juan heard the vollies which the 
besiegers discharged in honor of their triumph, 
he conceived them to be signals of the approach 
of his Irish allies, and instantly sallied from the 
town to meet them. But the sight of the 
Spanish colours in possession of the English 
soon undeceived him, and he made a precipitate 
retreat. When informed of the circumstances 
of the battle, the indignation of Don Juan 
against his allies seemed unbounded, and he 
solicited an immediate parley with the lord 
deputy. Sir William Godolphin was appointed 
to confer with him, to whom he intimated his 
wish for a termination of hostilities on such 
terms as should be consistent with his honour. 
Sir William proposed that he should surrender 
all the places which he held in Ireland to the 
lord deputy, who would allow him to hire and 
victual ships to transport his forces into their 


390 


sun RENDER OF KINSALE. 


own country: but that all his treasure, ord¬ 
nance and ammunition should be left at the 
absolute disposal of the queen of England.— 
The last article was rejected with disdain by 
Don Juan, who declared that he would sooner 
meet the viceroy on the breach than consent to 
it. He was anxious, he said, to conclude the 
business on honorable terms, for he had seen 
the condes O’Neill and O’Donnel whom the 
king his master had sent him to assist, assemble 
their utmost force within two miles of Kinsale, 
and that force broken by a handful of men, 
blown asunder into different parts of the world 
—O’Donnel into Spain—O’Neill into the fur¬ 
thest part of Ulster—so that he could not find 
such condes in rerum natura. 

As his army had been diminished during the 
siege by more than six thousand men, while 
fresh succours were daily expected from Spain 
by the enemy, Mountjoy deemed it prudent 
under all circumstances, to withdraw the ob¬ 
noxious article, and early in January 1602 , the 
negociation was brought to a conclusion.— 
Kinsale, Castlehaven, and Baltimore, were sur- 


O^SULLlVAN BEARE. 391 

rendered to the English, ^ and arrangements 
made for conveying the remnant of the Spanish 
army, amounting to 3027 men, to their own 
country. At these proceedings some of the 
southern chieftains were highly incensed, and 
when captain Flower was approaching to take 
possession of the castle of Dunboy at Bearhaven, 
Daniel O’Sullivan Beare laid a plan for recover¬ 
ing it from the hands of the Spaniards, that he 
might afterwards defend it against the royal 
forces. Though he had delivered the custody 
of the castle to his foreign allies, he frequently 
lodged therein with some of his followers.— 
One night while the Spaniards were fast asleep, 
he caused some of his trusty adherents to break 
a hole in the wall, through which fourscore 
Irish soldiers entered, and when day dawned 
the garrison were astonished to see a thousand 
men drawn up in the neighbourhood of the 
castle, commanded by lord Kerry, Tyrrel, and 
William Bourke, and accompanied by Archer 
the Jesuit and another priest. At the instiga¬ 
tion of Archer, Saavedra, the Spanish governor, 


392 


SIEGE OF DUNBOY. 


was induced to relinquish his charge, and he 
with his garrison embarked at Baltimore. 

When Don Juan was informed of this affair, 
he, with that sense of honor by which the 
Spaniards were then so much distinguished, 
offered his services to reduce Dunboy before 
his departure ; but he was told that the queen’s 
officers would take care to chastise the rebels, 
and Sir George Carew made speedy prepara¬ 
tions for that purpose. The earl of Thomond 
was despatched with thirteen hundred men 
into Carbery, to ascertain the movements of the 
insurgents, and having proceeded as far as the 
abbey of Bantry, he brought information that 
O’Sullivan, assisted by two Spanish engineers 
and a friarnamed Dominick Collins, was actively 
engaged in fortifying the castle of Dunboy, of 
which Richard M^Geoghegan, a distinguished 
Irish officer, was appointed governor, while 
the troops under Tyrrel defended the passes 
of the mountains. 

Having previously despatched Sir Charles 
Wilmot into Kerry to crush the remaining 
Symptoms of insurrection in that district, Sii 


SIEGE OF DUNEOY. 


393 


George Carew proceeded with fifteen hundred 
men along the sea-coast to Bantrj, where he 
had to wait a considerable time for the shipping 
to convey him to Bearhaven, as the way by land 
was impassable for an army. Here he was 
joined by Sir Charles VVilmot after a perilous 
march over Mangerton mountaioj in which 
Tyrrel and O’Sullivan endeavoured in vain to 
impede his progress. The army was now 
transported by sea to Bearhaven, and in the 
beginning of June the president sat down 
before Dunboy, which was so strong both by 
nature and art, that the Irish deemed it im¬ 
pregnable, while it was defended by a garrison 
enthusiastically devoted to the cause which 
they had embraced, and whose zeal was conti¬ 
nually animated by the energetic exhortations 
of father Collins, their chaplain. The president 
soon perceived that he had obstacles to en¬ 
counter of no ordinary nature, yet he vigorously 
pressed the siege in the face of a tremendous 
fire from the fortress, while his camp was ha¬ 
rassed night and day by the desultory attacks 
of Tyrrel and O’Sullivan. At length the 


394 


SIEGE OF DUNBOY. 


English batteries beat down one of the princi¬ 
pal towers of the castle, and the breach, after a 
determined resistance was entered by a gallant 
band under lieutenant Kirton and Meutas, who 
planted the president’s colours on a turret of the 
barbican. The brave M^Geoghegan, still un¬ 
dismayed, retired with the remnant of his 
garrison to another tower which he had encir¬ 
cled with a rampart of earth, from whence they 
kept up a murderous fire of hail-shot upon the 
assailants. But the latter still pressed forward 
with undaunted intrepidity, and the principal 
gunner of the castle having fallen by a chance- 
shot, while the south-east tower was entered 
by captain Slingsby, the Irish retreated to a 
narrow passage in the east of the castle which 
they defended for a considerable time against 
all the force of the assailants. About forty of 
the besieged who had sallied out of the castle 
towards the sea were nearly all put to the 
sword. Seventy-seven still remained with their 
commander M^Geoghegan, who was soon mor¬ 
tally wounded by a shower of bullets which 
the English poured down the staircase. Father 


SIEGE OF DUNBOY. 


395 


Collins and twenty-five others now surrendered : 
the remainder of the garrison, however, being 
still resolved to hold out, appointed one Taylor 
their captain, who seating himself with a light¬ 
ed brand in the midst of nine barrels of gun¬ 
powder, vowed to blow up the castle and all its 
inmates unless their lives were secured to them. 
But Sir George Carew, unintimidated by this 
threat, ordered a new battery to be erected 
against the vault, and as soon as the balls began 
to fly among them, Taylor was compelled by his 
comrades to submit. Sir George Thornton now 
entering the vault to secure the prisoners, 
M^Geoghegan, who was still alive, seized a 
lighted candle, which he was about to apply to 
an open barrel of gunpowder, when he was 
seized by captain Power, who held him in his 
arms till he was killed. The remnant of the 
brave garrison, fifty-eight in number, were exe¬ 
cuted on the same day ; and none of the Irish 
survived this gallant defence except father 
Collins, Taylor, IVPSweeny, and two or three 
others, but they afterwards underwent a similar 
fate at Cork and Youghal. 


396 


PERILOUS FLIGHT OF 


The castle of Dunboy being now demolished. 
O’Sullivan who had long borne the title o 
prince of Beare and Bantry, became a fugitive, 
with his wife and family, in the wood of Glen- 
garriff, while Tyrrel and O’Connor Kerrj 
kept up a communication with him across tin 
ridges of Slievelogher; and M^Egan, the apos 
tolic vicar, from his asylum among the Mac 
Arthys of Carbery, thundered out his excom¬ 
munications against all heretics till he fell mor¬ 
tally wounded in a skirmish with the royal 
forces. But the unceasing activity of Sii 
Charles Wilmot soon deprived the unfortunate 
O’Sullivan of his last refuge in Munster. The 
remnant of his scattered forces were driven 
from mountain to mountain and from rock tc 
rock, till they were nearly cut off, while scarcely 
a cow, a sheep, or a garran was left to him 
from Slievemishto Glenflesk. With famine star¬ 
ing him and his followers in the face at the ap¬ 
proach of winter, or the alternative of an igno¬ 
minious death by the hands of the executioner, 
he resolved still to preserve a life which he had 
devoted to the Catholic cause, by flying to 


O’SULLIVAN, &C. 


397 


Ulster with Tyrrel, William Bourke, O’Con¬ 
nor Kerry, and about one hundred of his vete¬ 
ran followers. They commenced their perilous 
journey in the depth of winter, and having 
taken their way through the Murdering Glen, 
and arrived at the foot of the Ivelearagh moun¬ 
tains, they entered Muskerry, where, being 
attacked by Teige Mac Arthy at the passage of 
the Lee, they lost some of their best men. Barry 
of Buttevant turned upon the unhappy fugitives 
the guns of the castle of Liscarrol, and pursued 
them till, passing the Ballyhoura mountains, 
they descended' into the plains of Limerick, 
where for a few days they found quiet re¬ 
freshment for themselves and their horses. 

Thence they proceeded northwards through 
the Galtees, till they entered the rich valley of 
the Suir, where they had hoped to meet a w^el- 
come from the opulent abbeys which raised 
their cloistered fronts along the banks of that 
beautiful river. But when arrived at the Rock 
of Cashel, learning that the sheriff of the pala¬ 
tinate of Tipperary was on horse with all his 
force for their destruction, they fled along 


PERILOUS FLIGHT OF 


3^ 

the plain between the Suir and the moun¬ 
tains of Clanwilliam. After receiving some re¬ 
freshment from tlie monks of Monaincha, thej 
marciied under Benduff, from whence the Suir 
and Nore take their rise, and proceeding by 
the borders of Ormond and Ely O’Carrol, at 
length reached the Shannon, near the old abbey 
of Terryglass. But finding that the sheriff of 
Tipperary, with a large force, was within a few 
miles of them, while the Shannon spread before 
them like a sea to obstruct their progress, 
O’Sullivan proposed that they should slaughter 
their horses, and make corraghs, or basket 
boats of their skins, to transport them beyond 
the reach of their enemies. This was speedily 
accomplished ; and when the sheriff and his 
train arrived, they perceived, to their great 
disappointment, O’Sullivan and his little troop 
afloat on the bosom of the Shannon. 

The fug itives effected a landing in Galway, 
at a place then called Tough-Kilnalehen, and 
here they remained as long as their horse-flesh 
lasted. They then proceeded towards Clan- 
rickard, where they were opposed by Sir Tho- 


O’SULLIVAN, &c. 399 

mas Bourke and Captain Malby, at the head of 
a party of the royal forces. O'Sullivan and his 
confederates took post in a rocky fortress, well 
protected, to which the only accessible avenue 
was a narrow defile overhung with wood. Mal¬ 
by, with that impetuosity of character for which 
he was remarkable, rushed fearlessly into the 
defile, when O’Connor Kerry, who had been 
his acquaintance in more peaceable times, ex¬ 
claimed, Malby, my old friend, come not a 
foot farther, or you are a dead man. I have 
you covered with my good arquebuss, which 
never missed its aim. I once gave you my 
hand in friendship—that hand would be re¬ 
luctantly raised to send you into eternity. Why 
seek our lives ? Let us pass to O’Rourke’s 
country in peace, and not a cow or a garran of 
yours will we touch.” Down, rebels, with 
your arms, and submit to the queen’s clemency !” 
was the only reply of the fiery Malby. Cle¬ 
mency !” exclaimed O’Sullivan, O, ye spirits 
of my people, murdered in cold blood at Dun- 
boy, bear witness to Saxon clemency!—Fire! 
fire!—in memory of Dunboy. Hurra, O’Sul- 

z 2 


400 


SINGULAR PRESERVATION OF 


livan aboo! fire!” A well directed volley was 
discharged; Malby with some of his bravest 
men fell dead ; the remainder of the royal forces 
took to flight, and O’Sullivan and his confe¬ 
derates fought their passage into O’Rourke’s 
country. 

A tradition prevails, that when O’Sullivan 
was quitting his retreat in Glengarriflf, he con¬ 
signed the care of his wife and children to a 
faithful gossip named Gorrane Mac Svviney, who 
had a hut at the foot of the Eagle’s Precipice, 
which was so constructed as to elude the vigi¬ 
lance of the English scouts who, day and night, 
prowled about these mountains. A single salted 
salmon was all the provision which Mac Swiney 
had for his honoured charge when they entered 
his hut, but his ingenuity is said to have devised 
extraordinary means for their future sustenance. 
Having perceived an eagle flying to her nest 
with a hare in her talons, he conceived a plan 
for supporting the family of his chief with the 
food intended for the young eaglets. He ac¬ 
cordingly, on the following morning, accompa¬ 
nied by his son, a boy about fourteen years old. 


o’sullivan’s family. 


401 


ascended the mountains, on the summit of which 
they took post till they saw' the old eagles fly 
off in pursuit of prey. The elder Mac Swiney 
then tied a rope made of the fibres of bog fir 
round the w aist and between the legs of hi s son 
and lowered him down to the nest, where the 
youth tightened the necks of the young eaglets 
with straps which he had provided for the pur¬ 
pose, that they might swallow their food with 
difficulty. This being accomplished, he was 
safely drawn up, and the father and son kept 
their station on the top of the precipice, till 
they witnessed the return of the eagles—one 
with a rabbit, and the other with a grouse in its 
talons. After they had again flown off, young 
Mac Swiney descended a second time, and 
brought up the game, after having first gutted 
it, and left the entrails for the young eaglets. 
In this manner, we are informed, was the fa¬ 
mily of O’Sullivan supported by their faithful 
guardian, during the period of their seclusion 
in this desolate part of the country. 

This dreadful civil war was, no doubt, pro¬ 
ductive of many events of deep and romantic 


40^2 STORY OF HENRY o’BRIEN AND 

interest, which have been suffered to sink into 
oblivion; but one still remains to us which is 
worthy of being recorded. Near the mouth of 
the Shannon, on the Clare side of the river, 
stands the ruined castle of Carrigaholt, which, 
with the whole peninsula of West Corkavaskin, 
W’as long the property of the ancient sept of 
Mac Mahon. Teig Keugh Mac Mahon, its last 
proprietor of that name, being connected by 
marriage with lord Kerry, became implicated 
in the rebellion against Elizabeth, and spent 
most of his time with the army on the opposite 
side of the river, leaving his wife and an unmar¬ 
ried daughter in the castle of Carrigaholt. Com¬ 
plaints having been made to the earl of Tho- 
mond of some outrages committed by Mac 
Mahon, of whose connexion with the rebels the 
earl w^as then ignorant, he sent his brother, 
Henry O’Brien of Trummera Castle, to Carriga¬ 
holt, to remonstrate with the chieftain. Mac 
Mahon was at this time absent; but yonng 
O’Brien was soon so captivated by the charms 
of his daughter, that he appears to have for¬ 
gotten the object of his embassy, and spent 


TEIG KEtJGtl MAC MAHON. 


403 


three weeks at the castle, dividing his time be¬ 
tween tlie pleasures of the chase and the society 
of the fair object of his attachment. The young 
lady, however, knowing her father’s rooted hos¬ 
tility to the Thomond family, not only de¬ 
spaired of bis ever consenting to her union with 
O’Brien, but even dreaded that he would assas¬ 
sinate him, should he find him at the castle on 
his return. She therefore agreed, that if her 
father should arrive during his periodical ab¬ 
sence, she would notify the circumstance by 
hoisting a black handkerchief on the western 
pinnacle of the fortress. 

The castle of Carrigaholt was enclosed by a 
court-yard, secured by high walls on one side, 
and by the bay with its high cliffs on the other, 
from which, to the White Strand, on the Moy- 
arta side of the creek, there is a passage several 
hundred yards in depth. Henry O’Brien, re¬ 
turning from the chase one evening, was so ab¬ 
sorbed in thought, that he neglected to look 
towards the pinnacle, till the shutting of the 
gate behind him aroused him from his reverie, 
and he beheld the fatal signal waving in mourn- 


404 PROCEEDINGS OF THE VICEROY 

ful undulations. Ills followers, except one, 
were instantly secured ; but to the astonish¬ 
ment of Mac Mahon, the intrepid O’Brien and 
his faithful servant plunged with their horses 
into the foaming tide, from the Black Rock 
near the castle; and, under a heavy fire from 
tlie assassins, arrived safely on the white strand 
of Moyarta. A detachment of Mac Mahon’s 
men had, in the mean time, hurried round to a 
clitf, from whence, firing a volley on the fugi¬ 
tives, they killed O’Brien’s servant, and wound- 
himself severely in one of his hands. He es¬ 
caped, how ever, and the earl of Thomond sent 
him soon after to the court of Elizabeth, with 
his arm in a sling, where he represented the 
treachery of his insidious relative in such glow¬ 
ing colours, that Mac Mahon was declared an 
outlaw, and his entire estate granted to the 
injured O’Brien. In the mean time Mac Ma¬ 
hon was assassinated by his son Tirlagh during 
the siege of Dunboy, and the murderer having 
fled to Spain, Henry O’Brien got peaceable 
possession of the fair object of his wishes, with 
the castle of Carrigaholt, and the vast estate of 


IN ULSTER. 


405 


West Corkavaskin, and became the founder of 
the Clare branch of the house of Thomond, 
which became so conspicuous in the subsequent 
history of Ireland. 

Since the surrender of Kinsale, the viceroy 
Mountjoy had proceeded with vigor in com¬ 
pleting the pacification of Ulster. After his 
discomfiture in the south, Tyrone, as already 
stated, fled to his own territories near the 
Blackwater, whither Mountjoy pursued him at 
the head of a considerable force, in the follow¬ 
ing June. Sir Richard Moryson having passed 
through Armagh, established himself on the 
north side of the river, and the viceroy erected 
a bridge and built a fort, which, after his own 
Christian-name, he called Charlemont, and of 
which sir Toby Caulfield, the founder of the 
Charlemont family, was the first governor. Ty¬ 
rone was now pursued to his head-quarters at 
Dungannon ; but the chieftain, on the approach 
of the royal forces, set fire to the town and his 
own mansion-house, and took refuge in Castle- 
Roe on the Bann. After this the viceroy spent 
some time in building Mountjoy-fort on Lough 


406 CAPTURE OF Tyrone’s strong holds. 

Neagh, planting garrisons about Lough Foyle, 
and giving instructions to Maguire and Mac 
Mahon, the chieftains of Fermanagh and Mona¬ 
ghan, Avho had now become sincerely attached 
to the interests of the government. 

Tyrone, having escaped from Castle-Roe 
with a small body of infantry and sixty horse, 
strongly entrenched himself at the extreme 
head of a glen near Lough Erne, while the 
whole of the surrounding country was aban¬ 
doned to the devastations of the enraged roy¬ 
alists. In the month of June the English 
captured his great magazine at Magherlowny; 
and on the 10th of August the strong fort of 
Ennishlaghlin, situated in the midst of a deep 
bog, and surrounded with woods and artificial 
obstacles which rendered it nearly inaccessible, 
was stormed by Sir Arthur Chichester and Sir 
Henry Danvers, who found there a vast quantity 
of plate and other valuable articles belonging 
to the rebel chieftain. Lord Mountjoy then 
advanced to Dungannon, Tyrone’s principal re¬ 
sidence, of which he took possession, and at 
Tulloghoge, broke in pieces the stone chair of 


TERRIBLE DEVASTATIONS. 


407 


State, in which from the most remote antiquity 
the sovereigns of Ulster had been inaugurated 
into the regal dignity and authority of the 
O’Neill. Mr. Stuart, from whose truly va¬ 
luable History of Armagh I have derived much 
of my information respecting the affairs of this 
province, states, that some fragment of this 
chair were found about sixty years ago in the 
neighbourhood of Dungannon. 

This vigorous commander seemed now deter¬ 
mined to put an end to the rebellion at every risk, 
and till that was accomplished to steel his breast 
against all compassion for the miseries of the 
unhappy victims of their great leader’s ambi¬ 
tion. The country was ravaged by the enraged 
soldiery, till all means of subsistence for its 
wretched inhabitants being destroyed, they were 
forced to the most horrible resources for allaying 
their hunger, and thousands perished by famine. 
You will be better able to judge of the terrible 
effects of this cruel civil war, when you learn 
that even in the city of Dublin, though far re¬ 
moved from the scene of hostilities, the price 
of wheat rose in 1602 from 36s. to £9. per 


408 


X 

Tyrone’s submission. | 

quarter, a carcase of beef from 26s. 8d. to jES. 
and all other articles of provision in the same 
proportion. | 

Driven to despair by the unremitting >vi^our 
and severity of the viceroy, Ror^ O’Donnel, 
Sir Arthur O’Neill, and other subordinate chiefs, 
now threw themselves on the mercy of the go¬ 
vernment, and Tyrone, thus left destitute of ad¬ 
herents or resources, was at length compelled to 
follow their example. His first overtures were 
rejected by the queen, on any terms but abso¬ 
lute submission to her mercy in all things ex¬ 
cept his life, and even this she was prevailed on 
with difficulty to grant, on account of his mul¬ 
tiplied acts of rebellion, insolence, and dupli¬ 
city. But as Elizabeth’s end approached, she 
became more susceptible of feelings of tender¬ 
ness, and fresh orders w'ere sent to the Irish 
viceroy to assure the earl of life, liberty, and 
pardon, by the title of baron Dungannon.— 
These contradictory instructions threw lord 
Mountjoy for some days into a state of uncer¬ 
tainty, till private assurances of the queen’s 
death pointed out to his intelligent mind, the 


DEATH OF ELIZABETH. 


409 


necessity of an immediate accommodation with 
the‘great insurgent chieftain, before the ditfu- 
sion of the momentous intelligence should excite 
a new ferment in the country. He accordingly 
despatched Sir William Godolphin and Sir Gar¬ 
ret Moore to press the earl immediately to at¬ 
tend the viceroy, and to prevent his utter ruin 
by accepting the honourable conditions which 
he was now authorised to grant. Tyrone in¬ 
stantly complied with the invitation, and at¬ 
tending lord Mountjoy at Mellifont, he there 
on his knees, presented an humble and compre¬ 
hensive submission in writing to the lord deputy 
in council, renouncing for ever the title of The 
O’Neill ; and the viceroy on the part of the 
queen promised him a full pardon and the re¬ 
storation of his lands, with the exception of 
some portions reserved for other chieftains of 
his family, and the use of the royal garrisons. 
After the conclusion of this important business 
Tyrone accompanied lord Mountjoy to Dublin, 
where, on hearing of the death of Elizabeth, 
he is said to have burst into a flood of tears. 


410 


CONCLUSION. 


This emotion was ascribed by some to affection 
for a princess who had treated him with sc 
much clemency, M’hile it was attributed b)* 
others to passionate regret for his precipitate 
submission, when a little further perseverance 
might have enabled him to make his own terms 
with the new sovereign, or renew the war witli 
considerable advantage. 

Thus was terminated a terrible rebellion, 
which for more than twenty years had spread 
misery, desolation, and death throughout everj 
quarter of this fair island. With its suppres¬ 
sion fell the last vestige of the authority of the 
Irish princes, and its result rivetted the domi¬ 
nion of the English government over the coun¬ 
try, with a firmness which no subsequent effori 
at insurrection has been able to shake. In iti 
sanguinary progress the sacred name of religior 
was, for the first time in Ireland, made the war- 
whoop of party, and it has unhappily continuee 
to be so even to our own days. But it was ii 
the cause of the religion of the queen or th< 
pope that the opposing factions contended, fo 


CONCLUSION. 


411 


the religion of Christ brings forth no such bit¬ 
ter fruits as have been recorded in the pre¬ 
ceding pages. Indeed I am unwilling to give 
either party credit for pure motives in the con¬ 
test. The government, for its own security, 
was anxious to compel the Irish by force of 
arms and penal laws to a conformity of worship 
with the sister-island, without affording them 
adequate means of instruction in the purer sys¬ 
tem of faith ; while the Irish lords seized the 
moment of general irritation thus occasioned to 
acquire, if possible, the sovereignty of the coun¬ 
try : for who that review s the proceedings of 
Hugh earl of Tyrone, but must agree with the 
assertion of Essex, at the famous conference of 
Dundalk, that he cared as little for religion as 
his horseor refuse his assent to Desmond’s own 
acknowledgment, i repentant moment, that 
he was but little instructed in religion or civi¬ 
lity —and this, it is to be feared, is the cha¬ 
racter of many of the politico-religious enthu¬ 
siasts of our own times. The wretched people, 
however, became the victims of these factions. 


412 


CONCLUSION. 


who made a desert, and then called it peace. 
Nor had they many intervals of tranquillity 
under the next dynasty of English sovereigns, as 
you will perceive by the History of the Govern¬ 
ment of the House of Stuart in Ireland, which 
will afford ample materials for another Series of 
Stories. 


END OF SECOND SERIES. 


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